Strangers: A RWBY OC Story
by FleetofWarships
Summary: A group of kidnapped orphans is experimented on by the Atlesian military to the point of severe injury and death with the goal of making super soldiers. Of the 21 survivors only 16 are healthy enough to be trained, they are split into teams. One of these teams, Team ANCT is the focus of this story. (bumbleby and whiterose are part of this as well as OC ships)
1. Tests and a visitor

The pale light of the shattered moon gazed forlornly upon a midnight conversation between a false maiden and the Grimm hive mind in a fortress located in the one uninhabited place on remnant, save for the Grimm and the two of them.

"You wished to speak to me my child? If you are having doubts about your upcoming mission there is nothing to fret over, our associates have every variable covered."

"It's not that Mistress, it's the voices again," Cinder feebly corrected.

"Ah, so that is what troubles you. My advice is that you ignore them and they will eventually either give up or give in. Just keep the stronger ones under watch for even with my influence the prison of your mind is far from unescapable," Salem suggested.

"Thank you Mistress, I will take my leave now," Cinder hastily went back to her quarters trying to ignore the angry voices berating her from within the whole way.

Salem now alone on the crystal balcony above her domain smiles for reasons unknown to all but her.

* * *

Halfway across the world and much farther north in an undisclosed Atlesian experimental facility team ANCT is getting preparing for a surprise inspection that Tiphany had only narrowly detected while snooping around in General Ironwoods personal schedule.

"Tiphany I've already told you put a damn shirt on, Carla stow that fire dust quick before you're almost courtmartialed for attempted sabotage _again_ , Nadia keep up the good work, and I'd better fucking make my bunk!" The team leader Alton scrambled to assemble the sheets on his unusually messy bunk, Nadia his partner was calmly sipping her morning coffee on an immaculate bunk beneath him while all around her it was chaos.

Somehow everyone was in presentable shape within the next two minutes by the time General Ironwood, the lead scientists at the facility, and a few of their VIP investors arrived for today's inspection and subsequent display of the teams abilities.

"Team ANCT, it's good to see you're all prepared for today's display, let's hope you put on a good show for these ladies and gentlemen today," Ironwood said in his own way of being excited which consisted of a slight grin sneaking onto his face and a almost unnoticeable increase in speed of his voice, Alton however noticed the change in the man who was like a father to him and could tell today would be good.

Alton took the lead as his team walked to the test chamber in single file as had been instructed during their first inspection exactly 12 years ago and during the past twelve years a lot has changed.

"Hopefully this is the year we finally get out of this frigid icebox they call a bunker," Carla whispered to her partner, Tiphany.

 **"Beginning test. Subject One, you will be faced with an unspecified number of Grimm when those doors open and you must eliminate all of them within a single minute. Ready? Go!"**

The intercom shut off when the General had given Alton his instructions and the massive steel doors at the end of the huge padded room slid open with a clang revealing a small pack of Beowolves and a few Ursa. The monsters spilled out of the cage they had been held in and eager to sink their fangs into something charged Alton. Alton leveled his custom twin smg/katars which he had named Abyssus Ignis and mowed down the first few with a short burst of gunfire before cutting down the others and skewering the final Ursa with a thrust of his weapons double glaive form after shifting it quickly and in stride. When the Grimm faded the smoke they left behind rather than dissolve into the air as it normally did was pulled toward and absorbed into Alton which left his copper aura pulsing faintly. The young hunter glanced over at the one way glass where he assumed Ironwood was explaining to the newer investorshow Alton and his teams augmentations functioned, a speech he had heard at least a hundred times during the weeks after their procedure on the same day of their first inspection. The next team member for a demonstration was Nadia Cobalt who made short work of the assembled Grimm with her kanabo/rocket pod Sanguis Fons. The fight ended with a dramatic display of Nadia spitting a stream of acidic venom from her fangs into the remaining Beowolf's eyes and watching as it writhed in pain before fading away and being sucked into her deep blue aura.

The third team member, Carla Tan took to the chamber with her massive greatsword/greatshield combo, Fidellis Bellator. More so smashing than slicing Carla destroyed the weak Grimm with glee having not been on a mission or killed any Grimm period for almost a month now. Carla had a look of pure euphoria on her face when the misty remains of the Grimm were pulled into her dull gold aura. The final team member to fight was Tiphany Green using her experimental single projectile railgun/magnetic mace weapon, Fulgur Mortem to lobotomize the majority of the Grimm with her weapons single returning slug and then the few remaining beasts she slaughtered using the mace form to bash holes in their skulls which left her standard cadet uniform stained in dark blood that would fade away quickly leaving not a single stain. Tiphany's bright green aura flared slightly as she gained strength from the defeated Grimm.

The demonstration now complete Ironwood said his praise to the team before leading the VIPs to the meeting room where he would no doubt show footage of their most recent mission to clear out a Grimm infestations deep within one of the SDCs most profitable dust mines. Team ANCT headed back to their quarters to rest until their free time which they would spend either honing their skills and bodies or honing their weapons. About and hour and a half after they had gotten back to their bunks there was a rapid series of knocks on the door.

"Hey Tiph, I bet it's that chick from maintenance with child support charges," Carla chided.

"That's not cool Car, it's not my fault you can't even get laid when I've been with just about every person in this entire facility, not to mention that's not even physically possible," Tiphany teased back.

"Alton could you get the door before one of them pulls a 'your momma' joke and we all end up bitter," Nadia called from beneath her blanket where she had curled up to conserve heat in the cold atmosphere of the bunker.

"Sure, anything to get those two to stop bickering," Alton said as he hopped down from the top of his and Nadia's shared bunk bed.

Alton opened the door to see a young woman with white hair in a ponytail waiting patiently with an obviously forced smile on her face.

"Excuse me Miss, but I think you have the wrong room, see visitors aren't allowed around here unattended," Alton said recognizing the girl as one of the VIPs from earlier.

"Actually I'm _exactly_ where I want to be, if you four are team ANCT that is," the VIP said craning her neck to see past Altons tall frame.

"Well we are team ANCT but why did you want to see us?" Tiphany asked from just behind Alton.

"Let me in and I'll explain everything but introductions come first, I know who you four are but you don't know who I am. My name is Weiss Schnee and I believe you and your team are my key to getting out of this country.

 **Authors notes:**

The rewrite begins and it does so much better than the original because this new chapter one is more than four times the length of the original chapter one because the original fucking sucked.

I'm currently comparing my words per minute of writing first person to writing third and honestly I write a lot faster like this.

Also proper introductions this chapter and actual plot rather than just throwing some shit together like before.

Thanks to those of you who decided they still wanted to read this despite my decision to rewrite all 27 chapters and more in third person, I'll make sure you don't regret it.

As always favorites, follows, and reviews are greatly appreciated and a good way to show you like the story or to tell me specifically what you liked about this chapter or what you think should change.


	2. The Game is Afoot

"So what makes you think that we even want to leave? I mean we do but why do _you_ want to leave, the heiress to the SDC of all people!" Carla exclaimed exasperated at the ridiculous situation her and her team had found themselves in.

"Former heiress," Weiss corrected.

"Wait, you lost all claim to the company?" Tiphany said, shocked.

"Yes and that's not even half of it, my father also renounced both mine and my sister's shares of the company so now we don't even have a small portion of it, and to top it all off he's completely restricted all of my access to anything outside of Schnee Manor."

"Sounds rough but what does that have to do with us?" Alton asked.

"Well I happen to know that the four of you have made multiple escape attempts over the years and not a single one has been successful, but now you have me and your combat statistics and practical skills have improved since the last attempt, I believe we can help each other get out of here," Weiss explained.

"An interesting concept Miss Schnee, the problem is; how do we know this isn't some kind of test?" Nadia spoke for the first time since Weiss' arrival.

"Because I'm signing off on it, unofficially of course," Ironwood said from the doorway where he stood and had heard everything.

"Sir?!" Alton jumped up in surprise and snapped to attention.

"At ease Goldenrod, this is strictly off the books," Alton relaxed at the Generals assurance but still remained on edge.

"So you are okay with and even encouraging us escaping?" Carla queried with a look of bewilderment in her eyes.

"Yes but it won't really be an escape since most of the higher ranking personnel are in on it, the only reason it's come to this rather than just assigning you to an actual post is that Jacques has insisted he wants you completely finished with your training despite my assurances that you are more than ready for your mission. The fact that most of the experiments including three of you are Faunus definitely hinders his judgement as well," Weiss grit her teeth and looked at the ground when James mentioned her fathers rather bigoted preferences.

"Well if we're going to escape or be discreetly reassigned then we're going to need a plan and I suppose Alton's already got one cooking and you General have decided to leave us to our own devices?" Nadia guessed.

"That is correct Ms. Cobalt."

"Yep I sure do have a plan or most of a plan that is," Alton looked up from his scroll where he had been surveying a map of the underground facility.

"What percentage of a plan?" Weiss asked.

"Twenty percent."

"That's hardly a plan!"

"It's a start and besides we work best with improvisation," Carla butted in and high fived Alton.

Weiss sighed and sat back down in the chair she had pulled over from one of the desks in team ANCTs quarters.

"What's your twenty percent of a plan?" The heiress asked.

"Well first we're gonna need a distraction," Alton looked straight at Nadia with a sly grin creeping across his face.

"Alton, last time I tried attracting Grimm here it was only a few measly packs of ragged Beowolves that got shredded by the facilities defenses in minutes."

"True but I know that you've been mapping the Nevermore migration patterns and by your own calculations a rather large murder of them will be fairly close by the end of the week, not to mention Tiphany can handle the defenses," Alton answered confidently.

"How so?" Tiphany chuckled knowing where this was going.

"Why your feminine wiles of course, you're going to seduce the security manager as you probably would anyways in your unnending quest to sleep with every member of the staff here and as soon as she's tied up in something else you can shut down the automated defenses."

"Well you aren't wrong about me planning to seduce her eventually and there does happen to be a rather spacious maintenance closet near her office so I can go along with this."

"And while you're at it you should open up the hangar," Nadia chimed excitedly.

"Why the hangar?" Weiss asked.

"Because Nadia happens to be one of the best pilots at this facility and how else are you going to get to Mistral?" General Ironwood said proudly.

"Who said anything about Mistral, I was thinking a nice naval facility in Vacuo would be a good new assignment," Carla disagreed.

"Mistral is where Weiss' sister a certain Specialist Winter Schnee is currently assigned with her corvette the Tödlich Flüstern not to mention that is where you happen will be sent on your next mission anyways," Ironwood explained.

"Wait, you're sending me to my sister?"

"Of course, where else would I be able to count on the troops silence in case of your father searching for you, your sisters men are extremely loyal to her and would rather die than give up their captains flesh and blood."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Then it's settled, I expect the five of you to be ready with the rest of the plan by the time that murder of Nevermore arrive," Ironwood concluded before leaving the quarters.

"Well now it's time for the other eighty percent of my plan."

* * *

Eighty percent of a plan and three days later.

"Alright, is everyone ready? All weapons in working condition and all belongings and supplies packed?" Alton asked the two young women before him and the other two on the group scroll call.

"Yeah, I've got my stuff and the defenses are down," Tiphany said while the security struggled in vain against Tiphany's masterfully tied knots.

"The Grimm should be arriving soon their presence is about five minutes away at the current speed and I'm waiting by the hangar, by the way there's a huge snowstorm going on right now which will make our escape easier but also harder to move quickly once we get a ship and take off," Nadia said.

"We're ready to go, Chief," Carla said for herself and Weiss who stood beside her.

"I've got one question before we commit to this, are any innocent people going to be hurt ?" Weiss asked apprehensively.

"Not likely, most of the exterior defenses are automated and a lot of the gaurds are androids while the living gaurds and personnel will be moved lower in the underground levels for their safety," Alton answered surprised at the Ice Queens show of compassion.

"Sorry if I seem worried I just don't want to be reaponsible for a massacre."

"It's fine Snowflake, everybody gets the jitters sometimes," Carla joked.

Weiss drew Myrtenaster and had it to Carla's throat before she could utter another word.

"Don't call me that ever again."

"Yeah alright I've got it, now let's get outta here."

The three hunters left the quarters where they had met every day since their initial meeting to plan their escape and now they would never see it again. Moving quickly as to avoid attention the trio made it to Sub Level Two where the hangar led out of the expansive facility and onto the side of the mountain in which it was housed. Through the few windows they could see the snowstorm raging outside and during the winter storms like that could last for weeks especially along the coast where the mountain range the facility was part of was located.

"Come on you three, over here! I've already removed the tracking beacon and sabotaged some of the faster ships here so they can't chase us but the engines frozen up so I'm going to need you to hold off the Grimm while I get it warmed up," Nadia shouted across the vast hangar while the snow piled up against the walls and the wind howled through the open doors.

Nadia's words had barely left her mouth when a massive Nevermore perched on the edge of the hangar and screeched so loud that the teens ears began to ring.

"Eat magnet!" Tiphany had arrived and with her death for the Nevermore as its head became a fine mist when the high velocity slug from Tiphany's railgun slammed into its beak.

"Great timing Tiph you're gonna need to watch the door and make sure nobody knows what we're doing."

"Sure thing, Chief."

Nadia had disappeared into the mid-sized cargo ship with small armaments that Nadia had chosen for their escape. The next of the Grimm arrived and a howl signaled that more than just Nevermore had showed up to the party and the Beowolves climbing into the hangar confirmed the fact that much more. Carla gleefully drew Fidelis Belator from her back and with a cackle of delight began to smash through the Grimm that had begun to pour into the hangar. Alton shifted Abbysus Ignis to its recently added LMG form and began to shoot down more Nevermore with its alternating quad barrels. Weiss was left to watch Carla's back which was not an easy task as Carla half hazadly tore through the hordes of monsters. The growls of dying Grimm was like music to Alton and Carla's ears as they had been raised from infancy to kill the beasts and now they could really truly fulfil that purpose.

The charging hum and subsequent thump of Tiphany's weapon firing took Altons attention to the hangars entrance where Tiphany was holding off a small patrol of androids who were attempting to stop them from escaping but as magnets and robots don't mix she easily dispatched them with only a few swings of her morning star and most of them only got close not needing to hit to do damage with the high powered magnets wreaking havoc on their electronics.

The jets mounted to the cargo ships maneuvering fins sputtered to life and shortly after the main engines coughed once and roared as they came to life.

"Alright, all aboard team ANCT Airlines and make sure to buckle up because it's going to be a bumpy ride!" Nadia called from the open ramp of the ship.

"Can I just kill a few more Grimm?" Carla pleaded.

"You're all mad," Weiss answered.

"Madness?" Carla asked while picking up a Grimm that had clambered over the cliffs edge "This. Is. Atlas!" she shouted before kicking the poor Beowolf of the cliff and down to the jagged rocks and the churning ocean below.

With Carla's bloodlust sated and the escape route cleared everyone took a seat on the benches that lined the ships bay while Nadia took the small stairway into the raised cockpit to get them out of there.

"Let's blow this pop stand!" Carla called up to the cockpit.

"Hold on to your assets ladies and gentleman, cuz we. Are. Outta here!" Nadia laughed from the pilot's seat as the small ship launched out of the hangar and into the ice and wind that engulfed the sky outside.

The flight was surprisingly smooth despite the storm raging outside and Nadia quickly figured out how to initiate the autopilot to allow her to sit down and rest with her team.

"Hey Weiss, could I see your scroll for a bit?" Tiphany asked.

"Why do you need it?" Weiss asked in return.

"Well your father, being the controlling bastard he is probably put some kind of tracking on it an it would be best if we didn't have that showing him exactly where we are, also he's probably got restrictions on your access especially calling so I could remove those restrictions too," Tiphany explained.

"That would be great, now I can finally see what's happening outside of Atlas at least if I can get a signal to one of the towers."

Tiphany took the scroll from Weiss' hands and closed her eyes to enter the trancelike state she was in when communing with technology. Carla began to dose off next to her partner and slowly she settled into Tiphany's lap while she was unawares. Alton sent a message to Ironwood with his scroll saying that they had successfully gotten away and that they were well away from Atlas by now.

"So I'm curious about your tattoo," Weiss said to Nadia pointing to the right side of her head where it was shaved and a dark blue tattoo took up the entire side.

"Well there's not much to say, I've had it as long as I can remember and hair doesn't grow over it so I'm guessing that it was put there when I was really young. I can't really tell what it's supposed to represent but it's a King Taijitu except it's blue and has different markings on it than normal," Nadia explained.

"I did some research once on the markings and turns out they were used amongst two rival Mistrali tribes, both made up entirely of snake or reptilian Faunus. Supposedly the symbols are a prophecy of what that person is going to do in their life and usually the tattoo is on the part of their body that has their Faunus trait and shows a Grimm that is similar to their trait. I couldn't find an exact translation but your markings mean something along 'retrieval of blood' whatever that means," Alton added "However both of the tribes were found to be wiped out about five years ago during their annual peace meeting, witnesses said one of the members of the western tribe, a young girl around fourteen had killed her family: her father the eastern tribes chieftain and her mother the western tribes head healer then she used their weapons and somehow their semblances to kill the rest of both tribes leaving the entire camp in ashes and all there, dead. There is a conspiracy theory I found that referenced the face and tattoo of the girl with known terrorist Cinder Falls face and tattoo and they match well enough from the grainy footage and pictures of the massacre that some believe that Cinder Fall is the final living member of the Loài Bò Sát tribes."

"So you're saying that either my parents were obsessed with those tribes and decided to give me a tattoo like them or I was part of the one of those tribes before my parents died possibly even in that very same massacre," Carla guessed.

"Pretty much."

"Wait, your parents are dead?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah all four of us are orphans, we know that Nadia's parents are Mistrali and that's the only definite thing, Carla's dad was abusive to both her and her mother when she was an infant and ended up hopscotching from orphanage to orphanage in Vacuo before my parents adopted her so technically we're kind of siblings despite us both being infants at the time, Tiphany was born into the Atlesian military and her parents both died in a battle with the White Fang so she was put into a program for military orphans and ended up in the experiments, and lastly my parents died in a massive fire that broke out when the previous experiment before us, Project Ashes, escaped and destroyed half of the facility, I actually vaguely remember the fire because I was there when it happened, we all were but I remember it vividly, every scream, every ember, and every gunshot."

"Oum, I can't imagine what it must have been like."

"No, you can't because you've been kept away from all the worst parts of Remnant your whole life! I'm sorry I didn't mean to get angry it's just, I hate when people presume stuff and say things like that."

"No I understand, but I've had my own share of rough times and terrible moments, I haven't always lived in Atlas for one. I went to Beacon until the Fall of Vale. I was part of a team called team RWBY, we had just recently shut down an entire sect of the White Fang that had attempted to break through the wall with a train loaded with explosives. We thought we'd won when we stopped Roman Torchwick but he had only been one pawn on the board and next up was the queen or who we though was the queen, Cinder Fall," Weiss took a deep breath before continuing "I had gone to Beacon to escape my father, all the beatings, all the harsh words, all the high expectations, so I did like my sister did and went to an academy but I went farther than she did and went to Beacon in Vale to become a huntress rather than join the military. That's where I met my team and they really changed me because at first yes I was condescending, I was bossy, I hated the Faunus but that all changed when it turns out one of our team members was actually a Faunus and she ran off and despite her secret I still worried about her and I realized that it wasn't the Faunus that were bad but myself and so I changed. Then the happiness I had finally begun to feel with my friends was taken, Vale was attacked, two of my friends died that day and then I couldn't even stay to help my father just showed up and dragged me back to Atlas. And there it is the absolute mess of a life I've led since leaving the comfort and ease of being heiress to the biggest company on Remnant."

"Wow behind that prim and proper exterior you are an absolute mess of feelings and trauma aren't you? Well it's no problem because we're all just the slightest bit messed up around here I mean you've got to be to be a hunter but us more so than average especially with all the genetic and physical modifications, constant overexertion and training, as well as dealing with racist assholes that you really just come to expect in Atlas," Tiphany assured as she stretched out and yawned having heard most of the conversation during her trance.

"Thanks Tiphany," Weiss smiled at the cat Faunus whose fluffy tail began to swish around in pride over Weiss' praise.

"Hey Tiph you might not want to move to much," Nadia giggles and pointed to Carla who had fallen asleep in her lap.

"Oh, now that's some sweet irony, a cat Faunus unable to stand up because someone is sleeping in her lap," Alton grinned.

Weiss laughed at Tiphany's predicament and took back her scroll back from her since she had finished her task. Nadia stood up and went into the cockpit to check their location and set a proper course to Mistral.

"Guys, I guess I was right when I guessed our location to set a course earlier because we are in sight of Mistral's shore right now and just beyond it I can see the Scarlet Sea and somewhere in there will be the city of Mistral," Nadia called from the doorway.

"Why's it called the Scarlet Sea, I mean isn't water blue?" Tiphany asked.

"It's because during the Great War there was a massive naval battle for control of Mistral's ports between Vale and Mantle which left bothe sides with heavy losses and they say the water was stained with blood for months after," Weiss explained.

"Oh, well that's morbid."

"No less so than your weapons name," Weiss shot back.

"Oh yeah, if you're so smart what does it mean then?"

"Fulgur Mortis is ancient Mantlese for quick death."

"Ok I guess you are so smart."

"Exactly," Weiss grinned and went back to trying to contact her sister.

* * *

"Hey, watch the cape!"

"Sorry!"

Oscar and Ruby had been sparring for hours as Qrow had insisted. Nora and Ren had been allowed to watch or explore the city and Nora had decided that they were going to explore the city as a kind of first date since their relationship as more than friends had budded and bloomed when they arrived in Mistral. Jaune was still trying to find a way to contact Pyrrhas parents and family. Qrow was meeting with an old friend.

* * *

"I don't know where she is blondie! I swear! Please just don't kill me I've told you all I know I mean I'm not even part of her tribe anyways."

"Yeah, well bandits have some way of communicating with other tribes and I happen to like beating the truth out of people, now spill it!"

* * *

"Sun, I've decided that we need to take the fight to the White Fang."

"So we're really going to be a two person army against an entire revolutionary organization? I like it."

"I've already done a bit of info gathering and Ilia mentioned something about Haven so I guess we're going to Mistral."

* * *

"Emerald, Mercury, we're leaving."

"Where to now Cinder?"

"Mistral."

 **Authors notes:**

Yes that was a Sparta reference in the escape scene and I am not sorry for it.

Damn I have gotten way better at writin since the original chapter one.

Also there was a Gaurdians of the Galaxy reference when they were discussing the percentage of a plan they had.

Ominous foreshadowing is ominous and I'm not saying where because there were at least three instances.

Can I just say that I'm falling in love with these characters I've created and it is going to bring me both joy and sorrow to tear apart their emotions only to stitch them back together with my limited and patchy knowledge of sewing. You see what I did there, patchy, you sew on patches, eh whatever you got it.

As always I love to hear you guys opinion on this fic and feedback is greatly appreciated so leave a review if you want and follow or favorite if you want notifications on updates.


	3. Arrival

The Grimm were closing in, snarling and baring their fangs to snap at prey that was slowly inching against a wall with no way out. A pool of blood flowed beneath her feet from someone nearby. A spine tingling howl echoed through the scene that began to unfold. Nadia knew it was a only dream but there was always the unshakeable feeling it was more than that. The familiar scene played out again: her and her team in the wreckage of a ship surrounded by Grimm however this time something was different, Weiss was there. The heiress had been there from the beginning unlike the other times she'd had the dream when it was only her team. As the Ursa that usually ended the dream lunged at her Weiss deflected it's attack with a glyph before striking it down. Suddenly Weiss was grabbed and pulled into the ever growing tide of monsters. There was a flash of light and a scream of anguish before her vision was clouded with white and she woke up aboard her commandeered cargo ship sweating with Altons jacket on top of her. She smiled knowing he knew how hard it was for her to stay warm especially laying on a hard metal bench.

Looking around Nadia saw that Carla lay asleep on Tiphany's lap still and the blonde huntress had fallen asleep as well. As she continued to search her surroundings and panic began to set in when Alton was nowhere in sight and the same could be said for Weiss. Nadia hopped off the bench and headed for the cockpit hoping he'd be in there. Inside the cramped room a voice Nadia didn't recognize spoke to Alton and Weiss through the long range comms.

"Mr. Goldenrod I've just received confirmation from General Ironwood that you have officially been reassigned to my command, I'm glad to have you and your team aboard. Weiss, you have no idea how glad I am you're coming to stay with me we can catch up when you arrive, and speaking of which our long range sensors are picking up a ship matching your description please confirm."

"We have visual of your ship Captain Winter, permission to land?" Alton confirmed.

"You have permission to land, please proceed to port hangar number three," Winter instructed.

"Acknowledged. This is Alton Goldenrod signing out, I'm looking forward to meeting you personally Commander."

Alton shut off the communication systems and turned to face Nadia.

"Well, I'm guessing you know what to do, because I certainly don't know how to land this bucket o' bolts."

"Very funny, wise guy. Now get out of the way this 'bucket o' bolts' as you put it doesn't have a autonomous landing system and with the rather disproportionate vertical thrusters I'm going to need to do this manually. And from now on she's the Adder, not just a cargo ship we happened to steal," Nadia corrected.

"The Adder. It suits you maybe not the ship but I guess you have some plans for her, right?"

"Exactly, now get back in the hold and strap in it's about to get bumpy."

Alton and Weiss left Nadia to her task and say back down in the hold where Tiphany and Carla were still asleep.

"Alton, is there something between the two of you? Like romantically I mean," Weiss asked nervously once they were out of earshot.

"No, why would you think that? I mean sure I've thought about it a few times but we were all raised like brothers and sisters and I'm sure she's probably not interested in someone who's like a brother to her. At least it's not Carla because we are siblings, at least in the legal sense. Not to mention there weren't really any chances for stuff like that back at the facility except in Tiphany's case, she's practically been in just about everyone's pants back there, lucky for me she never really seemed interested."

"Yeah I've never really had a chance for romance in my life what with studying and training plus for more than half my life I expected to get set up with some sleazy rich boy for 'the benefit of the Schnee name' as my father put it but recently I have been a bit more open to it and yeah I've had crushes like this one guy who was at Beacon for the Vytal Festival but it didn't really end well."

"I know someone who is most definitely romantically interested though," Alton chuckled pointing at Carla and Tiphany curled up together on the bench across from him and the heiress.

"Yeah it's kinda cute actually, how Carla is so obviously into her and Tiphany is absolutely oblivious or at least she acts that way. It actually reminds me of two of my teammates," Weiss remarked.

"Oh, do tell."

"Well Tiphany reminds me of a member of my team, Blake who was the Faunus I told you about, they're alike because they're either oblivious or pretending plus they're calm cool and collected most of the time and tend to be a bit more stealthy when it comes to their fighting style. Then Carla is like the last member of our team, Yang, they're alike because they're the joker of the team always wisecracking and pulling crazy stunts and very obviously enamored with their partner," Weiss explained.

"Hmm, I can actually see what you're saying and yeah that's definitely it."

"Eventually either Tiphany's gonna come forward and openly reject Carla or she'll play the long game until Carla can get up the courage to make the first move."

"Ya know what let's make a bet: if they get together by this time next year you owe me two hundred lien and if they get together after that or Carla gets rejected I owe you two hundred lien, deal?"

"I'm not much of a gambler but you're on."

"Hey, who's betting on what and I want in on it!" Carla exclaimed excitedly having been woken by all the talking and her own noise waking up her feline partner who flushed bright red when she realized she had fallen asleep on top of Carla.

"Oh it's nothing Carla. We're going to be landing in a minute or two so why don't you two stretch out and get ready to unload?" Alton suggested before Carla could question further.

The four of them gathered their sparse belongings and sat in silence for the next few minutes before they landed. When the recently christened Adder touched down it was surprisingly gentle. Nadia stepped down out of the cockpit and pressed a button by the cargo door to release the boarding ramp.

"As you could probably tell we have arrived now let's go meet the new commander aka Weiss' big sister," Nadia announced.

"It's not that big of a deal," Weiss countered.

"Well last I checked with the General or at least in the Generals private files he has suggested that Winter take his place as general in the unlikely case of his death so yeah it is kind of a big deal," Tiphany said with a smug smile.

"Oh, come on! Please just don't do anything stupid," Weiss implored as they stepped out of their ship.

"Hey, she's our commanding officer now and that means she's in charge, not to mention we want to stay on the good side of the eventual General," Alton joked.

The five of them stepped onto the floor of the expansive hangar near the rear of the massive warship. Ahead of them stood Winter and some of her lieutenants ready to greet her new crew members, but first she greeted her younger sister.

"Oh, Weiss I missed you," Winter embraced her sister before pulling away and reverting to her usual protocol abiding self "I hope father hasn't been too difficult the same can be hoped of Whitley, speaking of which has he begun to grow a mustache or has he not fully embraced his position as fathers mini me."

"No our dear brother hasn't grown a mustache yet. And father has been..." Weiss hesitated "Harsher than usual. He revoked my claim to the company name along with all of my shares."

"Did he hit you again?" Weiss avoided her sisters question.

"Weiss, please answer me."

"Yes," Weiss answered feebly.

"That explains why Ironwood was so adamant about you coming here, well I can't say I'm not surprised but if he ever lays a finger on you again, our father or not I'll kill him."

"Winter, please."

"No, Weiss I'm not going to sit idly by while he beats you into submission with threats and consequences the same way he did to me, you and I more Schnee than that buffoon will ever be and I wish mother would realize that and divorce him before her constant drinking kills her and leaves a mans like that with control of most of Atlas."

"Winter, I'm fine really. Just let me get settled in and then we can talk, I'm sure team ANCT is ready to go as well."

"Ok, I'm sorry if I'm embarassing you but I've always been protective of you and no matter what happens I will stay that way," Winter gave in.

"Now as Weiss said you're probably ready to be shown to your quarters, if you'll follow me I will show you there myself."

The five of them followed their Commander towards a suite of rooms near the officers quarters that was made specifically for visiting or partnered hunters who are staying aboard the ship. The suite was made up of four rooms in a circular pattern around a central communal room each of the outer rooms had some plain furnishings such as desks and seating along with four twin sized beds which were definitely bigger and more comfortable than the bunks at the underground facility. They were given the room with a window that had an amazing view of the island the city of Mistral resided upon. Below them the expanse of highrises skyscrapers and apartment complexes moved slowly by as the Tödlich Flüstern circled the city. Nadia called dibs on the bed closest the window while Carla took the one closest to the door, Alton the one to the left of Nadia and Tiphany the one to the right of Carla. Weiss was situated in one of the other rooms that had only a single queen bed for lone hunters.

"Man this place is great, look the bathroom not only has a door that locks it's got a screen for the showers too!"

"You guys didn't even have a locking bathroom at the facility?" Weiss questioned.

"Well we were supposed to be pretty much inseparable to be the perfect team but that kinda backfired when people kept getting walked in on and that spawned the knocking rule," Alton answered.

"Oh. Wow, that's a beautiful view," Weiss looked now out the large window that dominated a wall of the room.

"I know, right? It's crazy that there are millions of people down there right now and more than half have never seen a Grimm before," Nadia nodded in agreement.

"Millions?!" Carla said, shell shocked.

"Twenty-five million approximately throughout all of the cities six sectors. The Cloud District is mostly residential and contains about a quarter of the population, then there's the Astral District which we are over right now which is the most advanced and holds another quarter of the population, then there's the Steel, Sea, and Stone districts which are mostly industrial consisting of factories in the Steel, docks and fisheries in the Sea, and construction and material processing in the Stone, lastly we have the Cliff district on the far side of the island and across the channel in the mountains and that is where Haven Academy is located along with the majority of Mistral's airship ports and many ancient ruins from the previous civilizations that inhabited Mistral before modern civilization took over," Tiphany listed.

"And Mistral is the second smallest Capitol City of the four kingdoms as far as sheer area goes rather than population, Atlas has the most and Vale used to be second, but as far as population Mistral is second with Vacuo in first," chimed Winter from where she stood in the doorway "I'm glad to see you're settling in well and taking in the sights but I think it's time you get to know the ground around here, not to mention you definitely need to get out of those bland jumpsuits and into some real hunter equipment."

If there was one thing that Winter and Weiss shared it was a taste for fashion and within minutes of setting down at an airship dock Weiss had found a rather well known hunter outfitting store with all manner of clothing and accessories for sale along with a wide selection of armor as well. Weiss reminded everyone to spend as much money as necessary because all of it was going on the SDCs bill. Alton quickly picked out a simple outfit consisting of grey cargo pants, a fall camouflage patterned t-shirt, combat boots, and an assortment of light armor plates for his shoulders, chest, elbows, and knees. Nadia kept it functional with a dark blue hoodie, a winter camo combat vest, black jeans, and boots similar to Altons. Carla took a bit longer and ended up with something more her style: steel spiked athletic shoes, short shorts, a brown crop top, and a leather jacket. While Tiphany was the last one looking for an outfit the rest of them continued to browse regardless.

"Hey man, are you with those chicks?" Some acne ridden hunter who looked like he'd used about three too many types of steroids approached Alton.

"Yeah, they're my team, why do you ask?"

"The blonde one should probably choose a breastplate rather than a chest plate with tits like that, she really has a nice bod, I was hoping you could help me hook up with her."

"Listen here chump, if you think I'm gonna let a lowlife like you lay even a finger on my teammate you've got another thing coming because no I won't defend them because I don't have to, she will turn you and that cheap excuse for armor you're wearing into an aluminum can full of douche. Now fuck off before I feel like destroying you myself," Alton raised his voice just enough that Tiphany and his teammates could hear and draw their attention.

"I don't need to take this shit from you, I'll take you down right now," the hunter attempted to square up to Alton but ended up about three inches short and about thirty pounds less in the muscle department.

"Listen pal, if you wanna take your chances with a cat Faunus with some anger issues and a serious amount of attitude then be my guest but here's the thing, if you try anything slick I'll shove this boot so far down your ass you'll taste it and then her partner who happens to be rather attached will beat it back down your throat before she takes her own turn and turns you into Swiss cheese. If you'd like my advice I suggest you flirt with my partner because at least she'll kill you quick. Now scram, this is your last warning," Alton growled and reached for Abbysus Ignis before the scumbag backed off payed for his clothes and left making sure to steer clear of all of team ANCT.

"I heard what you did for me just now and I'd like to thank you but don't you think that was a bit much?" Tiphany asked from over the shelf Alton was browsing over.

"We're new in town so I'd like to make a bit of a reputation for ourselves to make sure nobody tries anything. Plus I seriously didn't like the look of that guy, ya know?"

"Yeah I get it but what you're trying to say is you're just a big ol' papa bear underneath that tough exterior and you really just love your team I get it, your secret is safe with me."

"Whatever," Alton and Tiphany headed back to where Weiss, Nadia, and Carla were waiting by the cashier.

"Dude, you fucking told that guy! Man if I were you I would've just punched him right then. Pow! Right in the kisser," Carla said.

"If I did that a fight would've broken out and he would've ended up dead or seriously hurt and you know our training: leave minimal casualties on both sides. Plus I'm sure if I'd punched him all those zits would've popped and then I'd have pus all over my new outfit."

"You did good Alton, and nice job directing him at me because I definitely would've killed him, maybe a quick bite or a spray of venom," Nadia joked.

"Nah, a spray would just blind him, maybe burn some skin but that would certainly help his acne problem."

"You four are all crazy," Weiss said from the counter "Tiphany, are you going to wear your outfit back or are you going to change there?"

"They didn't have what I wanted in my size so I got some materials and decided I'd do some self tailoring and make it fit," Tiphany explained.

"Got it."

Weiss paid for all of the clothes and took the receipt which showed their purchases had totaled at just over three thousand lien, plus tax. The five of them walked out of the shop happy with the new clothes they'd gotten. They began the short walk through the crowded streets of the suburban Cloud district back to the airship dock where they'd landed the Adder.

"Alton, you really could have handled that guy a bit less violently than you did."

"What would you have done if some creep had been trying to make a move on one of _your_ teammates?"

"Nevermind, I probably would have done something similar but-" Weiss was cut off by someone calling her name from across the street.

"Hey, Weiss!" a blue haired boy ran across the street dodging cars and pedestrians the whole way.

"Neptune?! What are you- oh yeah you're from Mistral aren't you?" Weiss realized.

"Yeah, my question is what are you doing here?" Neptune asked.

"Oh I'm just visiting my sister, she's the captain of the Tödlich Flüstern."

"Wait, your sister is Captain Winter of _that_ " he pointed at the warship patrolling the edges of the city "Tödlich Flüstern?"

"Yeah, she got assigned her own ship just after the Fall of Beacon when the kingdoms began to grow restless and asked for Atlas's help in cleaning up the White Fang to make sure the Fall doesn't happen again."

"Wow so it really is that bad isn't it, if heard that only Beacon and nearby areas had been hit but the amount of refugees from the main city of Vale is way more than just those who lived near Beacon."

"The entire city was destroyed besides a few strongpoints near the port where the military is still holding out and gaining a foothold to retake the city. Let's change the subject, shall we?"

"Okay, yeah sure. Oh, there was something I wanted to tell you after the tournament about the dance and kind of the real reason behind why I turned you down besides not being able to dance."

"Go ahead."

"Well, I might as well get this over with, I'm gay, yeah I flirted with you a bit and maybe some other girls but mostly that was just trying to hide it from myself, so yeah, I'm gay."

"Okay I get it, and I guess I'm kind of the same way, I'm just not really sure _what_ I am just yet but I know I don't like guys so we were both just hiding from ourselves I guess," Weiss confided.

"Funny how that happens," Neptune chuckled "Listen I've gotta split because Sage has a date in like and hour and I'm gonna be his wingman slash getaway driver in case it turns bad. Catch ya later Ice Queen!"

"See you around Sea God."

Weiss tried not to laugh as Neptune ran back across the road where his teammate Sage was waiting with a girl who had hair that shifted colors at his side.

"He seems nice," Tiphany commented "Also I am not surprised in the slightest you don't like guys."

"Wait I sensed sarcasm in his nickname what's that about?" Nadia asked.

"He's afraid of water I remember it from the Vytal Festival," Carla answered.

"Come on, we've got to get back to the ship so Winter can brief you on your first official mission," Weiss redirected.

"Wait, _our_ first mission? As in team ANCT going out and completing some Grimm killing related task?" Carla asked, bewildered.

"Yes, Winter mentioned it to me while you were settling into your room."

"I'm super pumped up now, I mean sure we've been on missions before but those were all easy ones and very simple at that."

"I remember team RWBYs first mission, we had been sent with a teacher to investigate large amounts of Grimm activity in an abandoned settlement called Mountain Glenn. We arrived aboard a Bullhead and scouted the area steering clear of the few Grimm we did see before setting up camp for the night. The next day we continued searching the area and we found the source of the activity: a large herd of Goliaths migrating nearby and mind you Mountain Glenn was rather close to the edge of Vale and having such large and powerful Grimm nearby could have been a problem. We marked the location of the Goliaths and continued searching the area before settling down for our second and final night there however during the night while our team leader, Ruby, was on watch she disappeared and we couldn't find her until her dog showed up and led us to where she was being held captive by Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, needless to say we rescued her but we weren't quick enough to stop them from using a train that had been left in the tunnels under Mountain Glenn to break through Vales walls and that is what resulted in The Breach of Vale."

"That sounds crazy, hopefully our mission won't be that hard, it's not that we couldn't handle it I just feel like getting back in one piece and without destroying anything but Grimm," Nadia remarked.

"It shouldn't be anything too hard, Winter said she just had a demolition team that needed some support."

"Well we won't be able to even do our mission if we don't get back to the ship so come on," Alton urged.

* * *

About a half hour later they arrived aboard the Tödlich Flüstern and had a few hours to prepare for briefing and departure. Tiphany finished tailoring her new outfit and emerged from the bathroom in a dark green trench coat with olive drab armor plates on the shoulders and elbows, brown slacks, riding boots, and a beige sweater.

"Seriously Tiph, a boob window?" Nadia asked while gesturing at the sweater which indeed had a slit in the chest to show off some cleavage.

"It's called fashion and yeah seriously. Plus it tends to get a bit stuffy keeping these big girls contained and before you say anything about it getting cold I can always button up the trench coat," Tiphany said, offended.

"Well at least you aren't wearing the bare minimum unlike Carla."

"You guys know how hot and sweaty I get swinging my big ass sword around all day how 'bout you try carrying around a hundred and twenty pounds of metal most of the time while stuffed in a jumpsuit!" Carla shot back.

"Come on you three quit bickering the Captain is waiting for us on the bridge so we'd best not keep her waiting," Alton interrupted the argument.

With the three of them calmed down they made their way to the bridge for their briefing of the upcoming mission.

"Team ANCT I'm glad you've gotten into something more comfortable for this mission. I'll get straight to the point, there is a large spawning pit near the eastern defense post that protects most of Mistrals farms and if that spawning pit gets any bigger it will pose a major threat to any nearby settlements. In response to this threat I have decided to send in a demolition crew to destroy the spawning pit and you four will be their escort and also you will be needed to destroy whatever that spawning pit turns into upon it's destruction. Any questions?"

"No Ma'am," Alton answered for his team.

"In that case you leave now, a Bullhead is waiting for you in starboard hangar two."

"Understood."

Team ANCT left the bridge and went to the hangar halfway across the length of the ship. Amidst the bustle of the hangar their Bullhead waited with the demolition squadron crowded around it. The demolition squad were armed to the teeth with heavy weapons and equipment not to mention the automated Paladin walker that was strapped to the cargo crane aboard the Bullhead. The pilot of the Bullhead was waiting for them.

The pilot had cream blonde hair and was very short even shorter than Weiss without her heels. The pilot who bore the rank of lieutenant on her uniform flashed a quick series of sign language to them as greeting.

"She says that she can hear and understand us but she herself can't speak due to a childhood accident so speak freely and if she needs to talk to one of you she'll use her scroll," Tiphany translated.

"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Cream Glacée but you can call me Cream or Lieutenant Cream, today I'll be dropping you off at the mission location and providing fire support throughout, it's an honor to be working with you," the monotone voice of a text to speech program came from Creams scroll "Also if I need to talk to you from farther away like if I was en route to pickup or backing of for resupply and refuel I can just text you."

"Okay then Lieutenant Cream we're ready when you are," Alton said.

 **Authors notes:**

Another chapter done and sticking with the trend of this remaster of the original 27 chapters I am smashing at least two-three original chapters together

Hunters take their fashion seriously and taunting is not uncommon among opposing opinions of clothing

Alton is the most overprotective team leader ever and will absolutely kick anyone's ass if they mess with his team, he'll kick your ass, he'll kick their ass, he'll even kick his own ass!

Nadia not only has folding snake fangs but they are venomous and she can spit it too so yeah she's kinda like that one small dinosaur in Jurassic park that spit acid all over that fat guy

Tiphany's tail is basically completely out of her control most of the time so it's a good measure of her emotions

As always follows and favorites are greatly appreciated and are a good way to get notifications of updates and reviews are a good way to tell me what you like and don't like about the chapter or the story in general


	4. Jungle Terror

Seekers are a small airborne Grimm no longer than four feet but using the extremely dense bone plate that completely covered their head and beak they could easily punch through heavy armor and stone when diving from cloud cover where they waited for passing aircraft and vehicles. Resembling sparrows their cry is described as the "whistle of death" by native Mistrali as it is almost too high to be heard by humans but Faunus and animals pick up on it easily, the most sensitive find it painful.

* * *

Seekers dove from every direction mostly missing but some scored lucky hits on the evasive squadron of bullheads.

"We're hit!" The craft to team ANCT's left went into a steep spiral, its right wing having been completely smashed by a direct hit from a lucky seeker.

"Shit! We've got to go back for them! Cream turn this ship around, they've got most of our explosives," Alton ordered the pilot once he'd seen the troop carrier tumble into the underbrush of the thick jungle mosty intact.

Tiphany opened the side door of the small craft and began taking shots at the Grimm that pursued them using the high impact of her slugs to throw them off course and crash into the ground. Alton took a position on the opposite side of the ship and unloaded the heavy form of Abbysus Ignis into the growing swarm behind the two remaining ships their only escort fighter having been taken down almost as soon as they entered uninhabited wilderness.

"I'm going to drop you off here, the trees are too thick further. The other ship will get to the spawning pit and set up what charges they can before you catch up. Good luck," Creams text to speech app spoke for her.

Alton nodded in thanks to the mute, "You'd better come back for us."

"Wouldn't even think about leaving you out here."

"Alright let's do this!" Carla shouted before leaping the last fifty feet to the ground as the bullhead passed over its wrecked counterpart.

"Let's go team!" Alton transformed his weapon into its naginata form and jumped after her and was soon followed by his other teammates.

After fending off small groups of ground Grimm they managed to reach the four surviving soldiers and the five intact sentries along with the explosives.

"Didn't you guys have a paladin?" Nadia asks as she searches around the crash site.

"Their first directive in case of a crash is to eject form the craft and search for the crash site to protect any survivors or destroy what's left of there are none. Plus we've removed any autonomy from them after The Fall so someone's piloting it," the pilot of the bullhead spoke from within the shell of he craft where he'd been retrieving the dog tag of his copilot who had snapped his neck on impact.

"At least we know he survived."

"Is there any way we can contact him?" Alton asked.

"No need, he's headed this way," Tiphany muttered having already picked up the signal of the mecha's computer.

Moments later the massive armored biped crashed through the tree line shaking a beowolf from its arm and firing a burst of machine gun fire into it as it struggled to its feet.

"All survivors accounted for, let's move out. Sentries take lead, paladin take the rear. ANCT watch the flanks, Tiphany ride the mech to get a better sight line."

"Understood," The soldiers took a defensive position in the center of the formation being he squishiest of the group.

"Looks like they've gone and started the fireworks without us," Tiphany notes at the echo of distant explosions in the deep valley followed by clouds of smoke rising from the trees, "Can't be more than, four, maybe five miles ahead?"

"I'll go up ahead then, make sure they don't die before we get there," Alton disappeared into the jungle ahead of them, vines swinging in his wake.

* * *

"Get down!" the whistle of a seeker was noticed by a Faunus in the squad that had taken an advance position on the massive spawning pit.

The seeker smashed into the ground completely disintegrating on impact but causing an explosion equivalent to a standard grenade luckily the soldiers had taken cover in time to avoid losing any extremities or taking any shrapnel. The biggest threat gone the soldiers went back to their positions around a makeshift barrier made up of felled trees and rocks the only gaps being blocked by the two paladins their bullhead has been carrying before it left for reinforcements and resupply. Their white armor already coated in dust and grime made no difference to the men most of whom had been serving under Winter during The Fall and survived the chaos and danger then.

"Hey remember that paladin that went rogue in Beacon after that virus hit all the androids?" One of the men muttered to his friend while they rested between waves of Grimm.

"Yeah I remember, didn't a bunch of students take it down?"

"Yeah, there were like eight of them and it only took a few minutes but supposedly another team took down one that had been stolen by themselves and they were just first years while the other group had a mix of second and first years and it took them longer."

"Those paladins are made to fight normal people and Grimm, not hunters."

"Yeah but right now we've got two paladins and we're doing fine, imagine how easy this'll be once those hunters get here."

"The ones that came with us?"

"No shit."

"Suppose they're dead?"

"No way, I overheard an officer talking in the mess this morning saying they were some secret experiment, get stronger with every Grimm they kill."

"It's their semblance?"

"No their aura just sucks up the Grimm when they dissolve."

"No kiddin?"

The two soldiers stopped talking and came out of cover to shoot a pack of beowolves that had snuck up on their position only to be met with the dead eyes of an alpha not inches from their faces and a puff of smoke as the rest disintegrated. Through the chest of the alpha beowolf that eventually disappeared thrust an orange blade. The smoke was pulled inward and absorbed into Alton's aura.

"No kidding," The second soldier whispered in answer as Alton gave a quick salute before sprinting to clear the rest of the Grimm with his semblance allowing him to finish the job in seconds before reappearing in the same spot in a flash of steam and heat waves.

After a few minutes of intense fighting against freshly spawned Grimm which were both smaller and more ferocious the rest of team ANCT arrive with the rest of the soldiers in tow.

"Fuck," Carla gasped taking a moment to rest on the hilt of her great sword, "That was tough, Tiph do you know how hard it is stepping over brambles with legs this short?"

"Not a clue," Tiphany smirked from atop the third paladin where she lounged casually.

"Of course you don't."

Shadows began to lengthen as the sun set leaving them to split up and place the charges in darkness. Nadia took the eastern edge of the pit, Carla took the south, Tiphany took the west, and Alton the north, each of them with their own allotment of soldiers and a paladin to each squad except for Nadia who could handle the heavy weapons role well enough. In the darkness the soldiers were near useless without lights which would attract more Grimm than their fear alone.

"Keep a level head, don't panic. If you hear something in the brush shoot it, no hesitation," Alton spoke to his men calmly not being hindered as much by the inky black night.

The moon peeked from behind a cloud coating the area in silky moonlight revealing that the spawning pit was growing more active as it got darker, bubbles roiling across the viscous surface.

"You got anything on scanners?" Tiphany whispered to the pilot of the paladin she rode on.

"Not a thing, it's like there aren't any but that's impossible in an area like this," the pilot whispered back as he looked over the internal monitors.

"Impossible."

"Exactly."

A scream suddenly rang out from across the boiling surface where Nadia's squadron was placing charges. A soldier was being dragged into the woods by a beowolf that had appeared out of the brush a single bullet dealt with the Grimm leaving the soldier to scramble for his gun and frantically bandage his badly bleeding arm, suddenly bullets were flying from and towards every direction as Grimm poured from the trees, tracers lit up the night and the chainguns of the paladins tore through trees and undergrowth and blew craters in the ground with rockets. The hunters did their best to defend their men leaving sentinels behind to distract and kill as many beasts as possible but no victory is without sacrifice and one by one soldiers were dragged screaming and shooting into the woods.

"Keep moving! Don't stop for a second we'll cover you!" Tiphany screamed at her men from atop the paladin wher she stood firing wildly into the hordes.

Three men short of their original eight Tiphany's squad reached Alton's who had set up a position on top of a rock outcropping.

"Where's Tiphany?" Alton asked one of them men.

"She's still back there on the paladin," the soldier pointed into the darkness where she could be seen using Fulgur Mortem in its flail form to hold the Grimm back off the swamped paladin while the pilot struggled inside to get the mech moving again before giving up and firing his gun into the swarms from the hatch on top of the trapped mecha.

"I'll be back, you'd better not die while I'm gone," Alton jumped into the Grimm pack scrabbling at the base of the rock and cut through them to reach his stranded teammate.

Weaving around lunging attacks and slashing his way past any solid resistance Alton cleared a thin path to the paladin before cutting the smaller Grimm clinging to its limbs off. The paladin surged forward into the opening firing its overheating chain gun into the Grimm giving chase.

"Thanks for the save Chief," Tiphany thanked him as she fired more slugs into Grimm that were giving chase.

Alton just shrugged from beside her on the rocking mech as it charged along the shore of the spawning pit. Carla and Nadia's squadrons had met up on the opposite shore and had almost made it to the rock outcropping which was now being held down by eleven men and two paladins. A shrill whistle slowly grew in volume until even the human soldiers could hear it. Before anything could be done Carla's paladin had lost its entire left half to a seeker barely missing the pilot who only had time to look shocked before bailing from the crumbling mecha.

"Are all the charges set?" Alton asked Carla once she'd escaped the wave of Grimm pursuing her.

"Yep, let's blow this pop stand!" Carla snatched the detonator from Alton's pocket and pressed the arming trigger setting off a chain of explosions that rocked the area and vaporized the spawning pit that was still spewing out Grimm up until its point of destruction.

"Now let's see what kind of pit beast we've got to deal with," Tiphany muttered looking down her sights into the center of the crater that remained shrouded in steam and smoke.

The smoke eventually cleared but in the darkness only a large angular shadow could be seen by the Faunus then the ground began shaking and the shadow grew closer. The moon peeked around the edge of a cloud bathing the monster in pale light as it crested the edge of the crater. White bone carapace glimmered in the light spikes and ridges punctuating individual plates in the Grimm's armor it's wedge shaped head ended with a razor sharp beak and held two burning red eyes behind many layers of armor and obsidian colored flesh. Eyes sweeping the hunters and soldiers assembled before it, the monster seemed to dismiss them at first as it backed into the crater but the moment a single sigh of relief was released the pit Grimm launched itself out of the crater and directly into the former shoreline where the rocky outcropping stood smashing the structure entirely and scattering the soldiers with the immense impact. Scrambling out of the Terrortuga's path of destruction team ANCT got their bearings on the battlefield and worked out a plan with no communication to keep it from leaving the area alive.

"I'll be taking those, just make sure no other Grimm get in the way," Alton ordered the soldiers as he appeared beside the awestruck men to grab the bag of explosive charges.

"Carla you try and get at its head, Tiphany go for the weak points, and Nadia just fucking shatter that things shell!" Alton leaped into the crater with the Terrortuga's attention on him he led it back into the damp hole.

Carla jumped from a ledge onto the top of the violently rocking shell and ran from the rear end where a stubby barbed tail poked out of the carapace all the way up to the stout skull at the front. The small brawler slid into a gap between the Terrortuga's skull and shell where its neck was left exposed and began hacking away into the thick flesh with Fidelis Bellator. Roaring in pain the Grimm leaned back on its hind legs and slammed back down sending massive tremors through the clearing and knocking Carla and Tiphany off their feet where they stood on solid land while Alton merely absorbed the impact and transferred it into speed and Carla rode the bucking tortoise like a bull.

"Yeehaw! I've got a good tight hold you're not getting rid of me that easily," Carla hollered into the indents in its skull that covered its ears as she sunk her blade down to the hilt in its neck giving her five feet of leverage into it.

Alton continued to run around and between the agitated Grimm's dense legs planting charges on its feet whenever it stopped moving for long enough. Eventually the bag was empty and almost fifty pounds of high explosives were attached to its legs.

"Hey Carla! Toss me the detonator and hold on!" Alton caught the small wireless detonator and mashed the small red button blowing the Terrortuga a hundred feet into the air with the force of fifty pounds of TNT.

"Woohoo! Oh shit! Look out below!" Carla called as the giant Grimm crashed to the ground on its back the remains of its legs swiveling in the air trying to flip itself upright.

Cracks spread through the ground from where the Terrortuga half buried its shell in the ground from the impact. Still wobbling the Grimm roared before giving up and beginning to spin with Carla still holding on for dear life. Slowly at first the monster began to pick up speed until it was just a grey and red blur.

"I'm gonna lose my dinner!"

"Carla let go, you idiot!" Tiphany shouted from the edge of the pit afraid to shoot at the Grimm for fear of hitting her partner.

"Alrighty!" Carla pulled her sword loose and immediately was sent flying into the stone edge of the crater but her impact was lessened by her weapon now in its shield form.

"Now it's slightly weaker belly is open to attacks and I've got a plan for this one, Carla get on my shoulders!" Alton ordered.

"Like hell I am!"

"Come on it's gonna be badass," Alton pleaded.

"Ugh fine," Carla consented and climbed onto her leaders shoulders.

"Now I'm gonna get a run up on this ledge of rock here and jump over the Terrortuga, Nadia is going to shoot us with a rocket and you'll block it with your shield but I'll absorb the impact and use it to send us even higher and then on the way down I'll use my semblance again to amplify our speed even more and then you can smash this thing like a coconut on concrete with your sword."

"That's a stupid plan," Nadia voiced her concerns as she reloaded her rocket pod with the Grimm still spinning in the background.

"No, no, we're doing it, I like this plan," Carla disagreed.

"Nope, it's a stupid plan and you're gonna get killed," Tiphany agreed with Nadia.

"Nah we're doing it," Alton continued walking away from the crater with Carla on his back shield at the ready.

Nadia sighed and readied Sanguis Fons for Alton's plan. Alton activated his semblance and got a running jump out over the crater directly above the spinning Terrortuga when Nadia pulled the trigger sending a rocket straight into the temporarily suspended pair and with a second activation of his semblance Alton had sent them another hundred feet into the air defying all laws of physics.

"Too late to turn back now," Alton whispered to Carla as their ascent slowed and they began to fall.

"Let's do this!" Carla shouted into the whistling wind around them as Alton spent the last of his semblance and a small amount of his aura to fuel an extra powerful surge to send them flying towards the exposed belly of the armored Grimm.

"They're gonna die. Tiph go ahead and call for evac because they're gonna need it," Nadia muttered as she watched the two hotheads plummet at near terminal velocity towards the Terrortuga.

"Got it."

"Brace for impact!" Alton screamed as he clutched to Carla who held her sword tight against her chest to make sure she didn't lose it when they crashed and to ensure a better piercing angle.

Alton closed his eyes and suddenly his world exploded with pain and the crunching of bones. The last thing the leader of team ANCT felt before losing consciousness completely was immense pain everywhere and a sticky warmth seeping out from beneath him.

 **Authors notes:**

So this stupid website lost my document for this chapter so I'm writing it and putting it where it belongs after chapter 12 so enjoy the chapter that once was and then wasn't and is once again.

Not gonna say much here since not a whole lot happened.


	5. Out and About

The bright florescent lights of the Tödlich Flüstern's medical bay greeted Alton's weary eyes with their sterile light. He slowly sits up and takes in the barren medical wing noting one other occupied bed besides his. Awakened by his stirring Nadia, who had been sleeping in a chair beside Altons hospital bed glanced at the heart monitor beside her to make sure nothing was wrong. Once she was reassured that he was stable she spoke.

"Well it's great to see you awake."

"Oh, hey Nadia, I didn't see you there. How long have you been here?" Alton asked.

"Well I've been here as long as you except for a few trips to the mess hall and our room for a change of clothes, which means I've been here for about two days and a few hours give or take how long I was asleep after we got back," Nadia answered.

"I've been in here for two days?"

"Yep, well the first few hours after we returned you were in the operating room as you happened to have a rather large chunk of bone protruding out of your back that was definitely not yours not to mention the thirty to forty other minor to negligible nicks and lacerations. Your stitches have already been taken out and most of the scars were healed in hours by your aura but you're going to have at least twelve permanent ones."

"Could you, uh, show me where they are? I'm still a bit stiff and I'm pretty sure I broke at least three bones in all of that."

"You didn't break anything major besides your left tibia and that was a minor fracture, you did however dislocate your right shoulder and you sprained your left ankle, I reset your shoulder before we were evacuated but your ankle wasn't splinted until we got here. The nurse said you'd be able to walk sometime later today but Carla slipped you some extra aura stimulants so by my wager you'll be up again in an hour or so," Nadia explained as she pointed out Altons permanent scarring that his aura couldn't heal.

Alton had a large jagged scar on his lower back where a chunk of the Terrortugas shell had gotten lodged but not too deep luckily. There were also a series of six long scars along his right bicep that looked like something had tried to bite him but only succeeded in scrapping the flesh, a long yet thin scar tracing his jawline up to his ear where a share of shell had cut, and lastly there were five small but deep scars in his left palm where crushed stones had peirced his hand.

"Damn, I sure got messed up didn't I?" Alton whispered feebly, shocked by the severe was of his own wounds.

"Yeah, you did and it's your own fucking fault too. If you hadn't been stupid and decided to be all gung-ho about killing that Grimm you'd be a lot less hurt and I wouldn't have been so worried!" Nadia shouted at her partner with tears in her eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was excited and went overboard with that whole thing plus when have you known me to think things through?" Alton smiled weakly.

"That's not the point, you idiot! You could've died out there. You were about two minutes away from bleeding out when they started the transfusion and there was nothing I could do about it, I won't always be there to help you and I'm afraid that one day you're going to get yourself hurt somewhere and you won't come back."

"But I won't be alone, not while you're alive. See you never let me do anything alone when it comes to stuff like this and that's why I'm so irrational sometimes because you'll always be there to pull me back from the brink," Alton smiled again.

"That stupid smile. Ya know what I've gotten on you for long enough you need to get walking again and Carla and Tiphany have been asking about you all day," Nadia said as she wiped the tears from her face and stood up.

"Alright then, if you could help me up that would be great though."

"Yeah, whatever old man," Nadia laughed in her signature half hiss, half giggle way.

"Who you calling old? Last I checked I was only about a month older than you!"

"Whatever you say, Gramps."

The two of them walked over to where Altons clothes had been left on the table beside the bed and Nadia left Alton to change before he walked out of the curtained off patient bathroom to have lunch in the ships mess hall.

A few minutes after the first half of team ANCT left the medical bay they arrived at the mess hall and were greeted by the second half plus Weiss.

"Hey, Chief! How're you holdin up?" Carla called when Alton approached the table the three sat at.

"I'm fine besides the ringing in my ears or is that just your voic _e_?" Alton joked.

"Yep, he's fine."

"Wow, Nadia wasn't joking about your injuries you've got enough scars to make a Great War veteran proud," Tiphany marveled at the extent of damage her leader had suffered.

"You don't know the half of it, I've got this scar on my back the size of Menagerie and it looks like it too," Alton said pointing at his back for emphasis.

"Ooh, lemme see!" Carla exclaimed.

Alton turned around and pulled up his shirt enough to show the scar that now took up the majority of his lower left back. Weiss touched her own prominent scar as if to compare it in size to Altons.

"Dude you got fucked up!"

"Come on Carla finish eating and stop gawking, I've gotten permission from Winter for us to go down and spend the evening in town and the quicker we're all ready, and Weiss," Carla directed.

"Yes?" Weiss responded.

"Dress casual, or as casual as you have."

"I can dress casual."

"And by casual I mean as cheap and not designer as you can get, like if you've got some jeans and a t-shirt or is that too much?" Nadia chided.

"I have some jeans that could work and I probably have a few casual shirts."

"Good."

Alton ordered a small meal from the menu the mess hall had for the day and once he's finished eating they went back to their rooms to prepare for the night on the town as the sun had begun to sink near the end of the afternoon. After a few minutes to change and get ready everybody was assembled in the hangar. Alton wearing black skinny jeans, a maroon t-shirt, and a dark red-orange bomber jacket. Nadia was wearing a navy blue tube top skirt. Carla was just wearing her usual as she hadn't gotten a casual outfit while they had been shopping. Tiphany wore a simple yet alluring combination of yoga pants, a bright green crop top to show off her toned midriff and a zip up camo hoodie. Weiss had kept to her word and was wearing bleached jeans along with a light blue t-shirt that read "Nice as Ice" on it in black letters.

"I take it the shirt wasn't your idea," Alton commented on Weiss' outfit.

"Yeah, it was a gift from my team leader however, originally her sister had planned on getting it for me," Weiss explained.

"It definitely suits you," Carla snickered.

"Oh, says the punk rock lolita," Weiss casually shot back.

"You take that back, Snow White!"

"Make me, Beast without the Beauty."

"Alright you two, break it up. Chief, what's the plan for tonight before these two strangle each other?" Tiphany asked Alton who had already boarded the Adder.

"We're going to a bar first, then we'll find some good karaoke hopefully at the same bar, and finally before we come back well hit a rave or a club, sound good?"

"Yay, alcohol," Weiss said halfheartedly.

"What's wrong with alcohol?" Carla asked.

"Well my mother is a chronic alcoholic who hasn't spoken a sober sentence to me for the past year and she nearly drowned in a bottle of wine not even a month ago so you tell me," Weiss answered bitterly.

"Sorry I asked."

"I know it's not that bad I guess I'm just bitter that my mother has to resort to alcoholism to escape her own husband."

"Maybe a drink would help," Nadia suggested.

"Maybe."

The five of them strapped in and the short flight to solid ground felt even shorter due to the excitement that filled the bay of the small ship. Once land was beneath their feet Alton looked up a nearby karaoke bar and Tiphany hailed a cab because the closest one was on the other side of the Astral district. The five of them packed into a yellow taxi and in a few extra minutes they had arrived at the karaoke bar that was called The Howling Beowolf.

"Guys remember, drinks first, food and terrible singing after. Or food first if you don't want to get too drunk," Tiphany laughed.

"Also try to pace yourself, I don't want anyone passing out," Alton called as the other four went into the bar ahead of him and he followed behind.

The door swung open and warm air spilled out along with the smell of food and drinks. The sound of drunken laughter and singing came from all directions and gave the brightly decorated bar a jovial atmosphere. Most of the other patrons were younger hunters around their age and just younger people in general. The bar itself was mostly empty while the majority of the people there were at the karaoke booth singing and listening or even dancing to the music. Team ANCT and Weiss headed to the bar for their first drinks of the night.

"What'll ya have?" The young bartender slurred as if she'd had a little too much of her own product.

"I'll have a double shot vodka Icebreaker with peppermint twist," Weiss answered first.

"Ooh, going hard on the first one and with a cold one too I guess you certainly don't plan on remembering tonight but hey, I'm not to judge," the bartender expertly mixed the drink Weiss had ordered using hard Atlesian vodka that was the main ingredient in the drink.

"Next order."

"I'll just have a beer," Alton ordered.

"That's easy enough, anything special?"

"I'll take a Vanilla Mindfuck with extra lime," Tiphany ordered.

"A tough one, not many bartenders can mix it but you've come to the right place tonight," the bartender mixed a complicated brew of drinks before finishing it off with a squirt of vanilla extract and lime juice.

"Anything else?"

"I'll take a Seafoam sundae," Nadia ordered.

"A sweet one I'll give it that, though not many can handle having whipped cream in their drink," the bartender mixed two different blue substances together before putting a squirt of whipped cream on top of the small drink.

"Okay last one, you there, what'll you have?" the bartender pointed to Carla.

"What would you suggest?" Carla asked.

"It depends on if you want to be standing when you leave or not."

"Stumbling but still conscious for a while," Carla joked.

"Well for someone of your weight class I'd suggest a Strawberry Sunrise."

"Sounds good to me. Oh can I get one of those little umbrella things too?"

"Sure hon," the bartender served her final drink only to see that Weiss had downed her drink in one go and wanted another.

"Damn, go hard or go home I guess but by law I'm gonna have to cut you off after this one, sugar," the bartender seemed surprised but mixed the drink again and slid the glass to the white haired huntress.

"Thanks for the drinks," Weiss said, sliding a few hundred lien to the bartender while downing her second drink "Keep the change."

"Oum, Weiss do you need to go to Alcoholics Anonymous or something?" Tiphany laughed while nursing her own rather large drink.

"No, I've just got some stuff on my mind that I want gone."

Alton got up to throw his beer bottle away and came back to Carla doing her hair in a bun and putting the little umbrella of her now empty drink in it. After a few more minutes Tiphany and Nadia had finished their drinks and the five of them were significantly buzzed enough to have a go at karaoke. Weiss decided against singing as even in her drunk state she considered herself at an advantage. First to the stage was Carla who sang some obscure rock song nobody knew the name of, not even herself. Next to the stage was Tiphany who perfectly sang a new pop song that was written about the Battle of Vale for relief efforts. Nadia decided to sit out for the night which left Alton to go up and sing.

"Do it."

"Carla, I am not singing Highway to Hell," Alton said adamantly.

"But it fits you perfectly and I don't have enough cash to change the song and I can't reach Weiss's wallet because she passed out in a weird position," Carla pleaded.

"Good."

"Chief, please," Tiphany joined Carla.

"Nope," Alron remained strong.

"Oh, come on it'll be great, it's not like there's many other people here," Nadia added along with giving Alton a very convincing set of puppy dog eyes.

"Gah, fine but only once, and I'll remember this next time I want one of you to do something," Alton finally relented.

Alton walked up onto the small stage and Carla pressed the button on the jukebox to begin the music and the opening riffs of the song played. The drums kicked in and Alton tapped his foot to the beat before singing the lyrics by heart.

Living easy, living free

Season ticket on a one-way ride

Asking nothing, leave me be

Taking everything in my stride

Don't need reason, don't need rhyme

Ain't nothing I would rather do

Going down, party time

My friends are gonna be there too

I'm on the highway to hell

On the highway to hell

Highway to hell

I'm on the highway to hell

No stop signs, speed limit

Nobody's gonna slow me down

Like a wheel, gonna spin it

Nobody's gonna mess me around

Hey Satan, paid my dues

Playing in a rocking band

Hey mama, look at me

I'm on my way to the promised land, whoo!

I'm on the highway to hell

Highway to hell

I'm on the highway to hell

Highway to hell

Don't stop me

I'm on the highway to hell

On the highway to hell

I'm on the highway to hell

On the highway

Yeah, highway to hell

I'm on the highway to hell

Highway to hell

Highway to hell

And I'm going down

All the way

Whoa!I'm on the highway to hell

The music cut off and Alton jumped off the stage to a chorus of cheers and clapping from the audience, especially his teammates and Weiss who had woken up at the beginning of his performance.

"I remember how you used to sing that while building Abbysus Ignis," Nadia smiled.

"It's what inspired the name," Alton explained.

"What does your weapons name mean?" Weiss asked, curious.

"Hellfire," Alton answered simply.

"Oh."

"Mine means 'quick death'," Tiphany said.

"Mine means 'blood fountain'," Nadia added.

"And mine means 'loyal soldier'," Carla finished.

"Well mine isn't anything special it's just Old Atlesian for a type of flower," Weiss explained.

"That's actually pretty neat," Alton said.

"Hey what do you guys say we ditch this place for a club?" Carla spoke up.

"I'm down,"Tiphany agreed.

The rest of them agreed and they left the bar behind. Back on the open streets of the Astral district it was still busy despite the sun being down.

"I saw a good looking club down this way when we were riding here!" Carla said and took off at a jog down the road.

"Carla wait up, you're gonna fall and smack your face in with how drunk you are if you don't slow down!" Tiphany chased after her rambunctious partner.

"I'm gonna save the first dance for you Tiph but you'd better hurry up!" Carla called back before running ahead again.

Alton, Nadia, and Weiss trailed along behind Tiphany who attempted to give chase but her smaller partner was much faster.

"Is she always like this, I mean I know she's usually insufferable and a bit idiotic but is it always this bad?" Weiss asked.

"Yes," Alton and Nadia answered simultaneously.

"At least Ruby wasn't this bad she was just a bit annoying occasionally and childish at times but she was only fifteen so it can be excused," Weiss sighed.

"Do you miss your team, Weiss?" Nadia asked.

"What? Of course I do, I mean granted that Yang was obnoxious, Ruby was childish, and Blake was a bit secretive, they were all my friends and I loved them all. I definitely miss them, I miss them more than I've missed anything before, even Winter when she left for the academy."

"I can't imagine being separated from my team for so long, and such distances too," Nadia said.

"Yeah it's gotta be tough," Alton agreed.

"Oum, I miss them a lot."

The ground shook beneath them slightly but not enough to be noticed and they continued walking, oblivious of the glow along the horizon behind them.

"Seriously, Carla slow down!" Tiphany shouted before giving up and slowing down.

"Come on guys, I'm already here and you four are still so far!" Carla shouted from the clubs entrance where a bouncer was checking IDs.

Again the ground rumbled, this time noticeably.

"Hey, did you feel that?" Nadia asked.

"Yeah, felt like a distant earthquake like that time in Vacuo on that supply run for those stranded dust miners, do you remember that crazy giant centipede Grimm that hadn't even been documented when we killed it?" Tiphany recalled.

"That thing was gross," Alton remembered as another shockwave hit.

"That one definitely wasn't distant," Weiss said.

Carla had given up on waiting and had decided to walk inside when a series of explosions ripped through different bars, restaurants, and clubs throughout the entire Astral district including the club Carla was walking into. Carla was thrown backwards as the club detonated from writhin throwing rubble and concrete outwards along with fire and smoke all mingling together to form a wall of heat and shrapnel tearing apart all in its way and obscuring all vision for yards in all directions. Carla disappeared into the blast and for almost a minute all was darkness as almost all light was blocked with smoke and dust. Alton dove to the ground as soon as the explosions went off pulling Nadia with him, Weiss ducked behind a parked car on the side of the road while Tiphany stood where she was and watched in slow motion as her best friend and partner was engulfed in flames.

The smoke began to clear and Alton sprang to his feet and Nadia was up right behind him but ahead of them both was Tiphany who ran straight into the rubble to search for Carla. Weiss peeked around her cover and saw that everyone had begun to search through piles of bricks and steel for survivors not just the hunters but civilians as well. The ringing in their ears was evident for the next few minutes but when it finally began to fade all the sounds came rushing in like a flood of agony, the cries of trapped survivors, the screams of the wounded and the last faint murmurs of the dying.

"Carla! Carla, come on answer me!" Tiphany shouted as she dug through the pile of rubble where the front of the building had collapsed.

Fire crackled where scraps of what wood hadn't been incinerated in the initial blast burned and suddenly a beam snapped dropping a large chunk of concrete from where it had been pinned atop the remains of the doorframe. Tiphany scrambled over to see if anyone had been underneath the concrete slab and to her relief Carla was laying there pinned under a bent steel beam that covered half her body, but she was obviously breathing though with difficulty.

"Carla, are you okay?" Tiphany climbed down into the pile of debris.

"Heh, I can't feel my legs and my right arm hurts like a bitch but I'm alive," Carla coughed up blood after she'd spoken.

"Alton! Nadia! She's over here! Someone, I need help!" Tiphany called out of the hole and attempted to move the beam but only succeeded in shifting it just a few inches.

"Oh, look at that, I've been impaled. Tiph, could you try to get that piece of metal out of my shoulder?" Carla slurred and tilted her head towards the metal pipe sticking out of her right shoulder.

"Oh my Oum," Tiphany stopped pushing the beam and slowly pulled the pipe out of her partners shoulder letting a small trickle of blood to seep out but as the metal had been red hot when it went in the wound was mostly cauterized.

"That's better now my arm doesn't hurt so much," Carla turns her head to look at her arm to see if there are any other injuries "Oh, look at that, I've been disarmed," she comments distantly before passing out.

"Wait, what? Carla, wake up! Holy shit your arm is gone, it's just gone. What the fuck?" Tiphany checks Carla's pulse to make sure she's still alive and she is but her pulse is faint and her breathing is rapid.

"Tiphany we came as quick as we could!" Alton shouted from the top of the hole.

"Get down here and help move this, she's lost a fucking arm!"

"The hell?!"

"You heard me, she's lost her right arm! Poof, gone! Now help me you bastard!" Alton clambered down the pile of rubble and helped the blonde lift the beam enough to move it off of Carla.

"Holy shit," Tiphany was dumbstruck by the sheer damage that had been done to Carla's body, not only was her right arm sheared clean off but her left leg was a mangled and unrepairable mess while her right leg was snapped of roughly at the knee most likely the rest of it was buried somewhere else.

The majority of Carla's body was covered in burns while her clothes were in tatters along with the many shards of shrapnel in her upper torso, luckily the majority hit ribs or missed major organs entirely. Alton quickly did what he could for Carla with the medical training he had, ripping fabric from a nearby corpses clothes for bandages to cover the wounds that hadn't been flash cauterized by the initial fireball. Nadia eventually found her teammates and helped clear some of the rubble that was pinning Carla down.

"Nadia, you usually have a knife on you, do you think I could borrow it because I'm gonna find whoever did this and I'm going to slit his fucking throat," Tiphany growled while her tail swished in anger.

"I happened to bring two today so I'll use the other to castrate the bastard," Nadia said with just as much anger.

"As much as I'd like to find who did this too if like to remind you that: Carla is bleeding out on the ground and we need to get her help, there are still civilians here that need assistance, and Weiss is missing," Alton cut in.

"Oh, shit where is Weiss?" Tiphany realized.

"Exactly, Tiphany you stay here and watch Carla, I'm going to look for Weiss, Nadia you get to the Adder and come back her to pick us up."

"Got it Chief," Nadia accepted her duty and climbed out of the crater and ran off in the direction of her ship.

Alton made his way through the rubble searching for the white haired huntress. He saw a glimpse of white down an alleyway and headed towards it before he heard a gruff voice.

"Well looky what we've got here, a Schnee. Don't try and deny it I've seen you on the news, Weiss Schnee. Oh I know you sure enough, you're one of the biggest Faunus haters around and now we're having a revolution and I'm going to be the one to kill you," a short stubby man with horns bigger than his own arms stood with a revolver pressed to Weiss's forehead in the middle of the alley.

Alton crept through the shadows until he was behind the short Faunus. Looking around Alton found a rather well proportioned steel pipe to use as a weapon.

"Well, any last words? Any pleading, any begging for mercy? Because either way you're dying tonight."

"Just three: you first asshole," Weiss responded to her would be killer as Alton brought the pipe down on his head with a sickening crack caving his skull in and leaving his horns at an inverted angle.

Weiss choked down bile as she realized that he didn't have an unlocked aura and that her friend Alton had just killed somebody.

"Don't dwell on it, I did what I had to and nobody will blame you either. Now come on we've got to get back to Tiphany and Carla," Alton stopped to grab the Faunus's gun before leading Weiss back to where his teammates were.

"Alton, you're back. And Weiss is okay, thank Oum. Apparently this whole thing is because of the White Fang, they set off a bunch of explosives throughout the Astral district and now they're leading a revolt against humans and marching through the streets killing any humans they come across, not two minutes ago the killed an adopted Faunus kids parents and left him there crying in the street before some lady came outside and took him in for shelter, I asked her if she had some medical supplies and she gave me some gauze and some burn cream but that was about all she had," Tiphany rambled.

"Tiph, lock it we've got hostiles," Alton whispered when he heard gunshots from down the street.

"How many?"

"There are five of them, all White Fang. They've got ten prisoners, all human at least from what I can see," another gunshot rang out as he finished counting "Make that nine prisoners," Alton cringed before correcting himself.

"Alton distract them, I'm gonna have to shank a bitch," Tiphany said inspecting the knife Nadia had lent her.

"Weiss sit tight here and keep watch on Carla. We'll be back."

As Alton and Tiphany vaulted the lip of the crater a rocket soared from the White Fang squad and obliterated a police issue Bullhead that had been searching for survivors. Wreckage fell down and burned, there were no survivors.

"Murderous bastards," Tiphany spat.

Alton said nothing and began to walk towards the White Fang thugs who he saw were armed with clubs, bats, knives, and an assortment of guns, along with the rocket launcher that had brought down the Bullhead.

"Hey, I see you guys are executing these human scum, mind if I lend a hand?" Alton said in as friendly a voice as he could muster when he realized the next to be executed was a young girl who couldn't have been older than twelve.

"Who the fuck are you?" The squad leader spat, leveling his shotgun at Alton who continued forward undeterred.

"Name's Dave, and look I even brought my own gun!"

"Ya know what fine, if you're so eager then kill this damned human spawn."

"Gladly," Alton stepped in front of the Faunus who had previously had his pistol trained on the kneeling girls head.

Alton lined up the gun and stared into the little girls bloodshot eyes before winking and turning around and blowing the White Fang squad leaders head into chunks with the high caliber revolver, while Tiphany crept up on another squad member and stuck the long knife straight between his ribs and out his chest from behind.

"Now before this brawl really gets brewing, I'd like to know who has an unlocked aura and who doesn't so I can kill you all equally," Alton suggested sarcastically.

Without waiting for an answer Alton rushed the nearest Faunus, a large bear Faunus covered in fur who was weilding a spiked baseball bat. The thug swung the bat overhanded and Alton easily ducked beneath his slow blow and easily knocked the bat out of his hands before standing back up and firing a shot right between the guys eyes, leaving a large hole through his head, before turning to the next opponent. The next fighter was a cheetah Faunus whose tail flicked wildly as she charged Alton with a bayoneted rifle, firing as she went. All of the shots went wide as her target strafed to the right before pistol whipping her on the temple leaving her dazed before turning her rifle on herself and sticking it straight through her weak aura leaving the rifle deep in her gut, blood pouring out. The last two White Fang members were more hesitant to fight and while Tiphany released the prisoners from their binds they circled him slowly both wearing masks and hoods to hide their faces.

The shorter of the two feinted an attack with his board and while Alton was distracted the other attacked from behind, leaping into Altons shoulders and slicing at him with claws. Alton quickly spun and deflected the attack with the plates on his arms. Using his own Faunus trait against hers he held off the constant assault and slowly pushed his attacker into a wall before grabbing one of her hands and using his free hand punched her in the face, breaking her mask. Beneath the shattered mask was the face of a young girl in her early teens at the latest. Holding her against the wall she struggled to break free but Alton was twice her size and weight which kept her firmly held.

"You're just a kid, why are you out here trying to kill people when you should be at home with your parents?"

The girl only spat in his face in response but when she did so Alton saw that someone had cut her tongue out. Then he felt a light thumping against his back, turning around he saw the final fighter swinging his board at Alton feebly doing no damage not even to his aura.

"Leave her alone!" The short White Fang member yelled meekly.

Without letting go of the girl Alton reached around and pulled off the mask of his would be attacker to see that it was only a young boy.

"Hey, stop that! How old are you?"

The boy stopped swinging his board at the sound of Altons voice and backed up, scared of the hunter.

"I'm only nine but I'll still kick your ass if you don't let my sister go!"

"Yeah, okay. What's her name?"

"Her name's Salina and she's my big sister!"

"Yeah I got that part. Salina, I'm going to let you go but you're going to have to promise not to attack me, got it?"

The girl nodded in response and Alton set her down.

"Okay now you, kid, I want you to explain how her tongue got cut out and why two little kids are out here trying to kill people."

"Our parents died when I was real little, and she took care of me when we were on the streets, Salina took a job at a brothel when she was ten to pay for food but then the brothel owner cut out her tongue when he caught her trying to tell the police about how he was paying his Faunus workers less along with employing children, so she ripped his throat out and joined the White Fang but since I go everywhere with her I joined up too!" The boy explained.

"Makes sense, what's your name little boy?"

"I'm not little and my name is Steph."

"Okay Steph, I'm gonna bring you with me later because you two are both in big trouble but I think I could find somewhere for you to stay after this because I'll make sure you don't get in too big of trouble, got it?"

"Yeah, I've got it mister," Steph pouted.

"And Salina, you certainly didn't do much wrong when you killed that man but joining the White Fang was a step in the wrong direction, though I think you may have what it takes to be a hunter. Just remember the actions of few do not speak for the many so just because one human is an asshole, doesn't mean they all are. Okay you two come on with me, I'm gonna hand you over to my superior when I leave but I'll make sure you're taken care of and nothing bad will happen to you."

Tiphany walked up to Alton after she had released all the human prisoners.

"Why aren't you killing those Faunus terrorists?" A well dressed man who had been a prisoner shouted "Dont you know they tried to kill us or are all you Faunus too stupid to follow such complicated instructions?"

Alton sighed before facing the man.

"Listen up you stinking sack of douche, I am a hunter and a member of the Atlesian Special Forces and technically under the state of martial law, I can and would kill you right now but there are children present including the so called terrorists you are referring to, so why don't you just shut your Oum damned trap for a while until some cops show up?" The man was scared into submission and remained quiet.

A gunshot rang out and the well dressed man dropped to the ground and out of the smoke Alton could see a Bullhead painted in White Fang colors and around it were White Fang soldiers and right in the middle of them was the head honcho himself, Adam Taurus.

"Tiphany, get the civilians to safety, I'll hold these fuckers off!"

"Good luck, Chief!" Tiphany ran off with the remaining civilians and the Faunus siblings following after her.

Alton glanced around and realized that the hole Carla and Weiss were in was on the other side of the Bullhead and the only thing keeping the White Fang from finding them was him.

"Adam Taurus, isn't it? I've always wanted to meet someone with that name just so I can see how much bullshit their reputation is," Alton challenged.

Adam merely glowered behind his mask and drew his sword as his soldiers raised their guns at Alton.

"Eleven heavily armed to one unarmed, then it's a fair fight."

Alton smirked before activating his semblance and charging the White Fang.

 **Authors notes:**

So I just compressed about three chapters into one go me!

Damn there was a good bit of gore this chapter and there will be so much more.

Tiphany will cut a bitch if they mess with Carla.

Weiss is snarky and sassy.

Carla and Weiss don't get along to well on principle.

Nadia gets emotional when Alton is an idiot.

Oh no highly trained fighters caught unawares without their weapons and gear, I wonder where that trope came from (literally every spy/action movie ever)

Alton loves rock and roll, particularly ACDC which I'm putting into this fanfic just because I can.

(Fun fact ACDC is my favorite too)

Weiss can handle her liquor except when she can't.

This chapter was an absolute emotional rollercoaster and it will only get worse from this point, have fun!

As always and forever follows and favorites are a good way to show you want more and reviews are the best way to send me feedback on what you liked and what you don't and what I should change, except stupid stuff like hate, that stuff gets ignored.

Thanks for reading!


	6. The Night Grows Long

"Ilia what are you still doing with the White Fang?"

"I don't know Blake, but I still feel like I owe them something because despite what some of them have done there are those of us who still think the Fang can do good."

Blakes scroll rings, it's Sun.

"Sun, what's going on?" Blake answered.

"The White Fang have launched a massive attack on Mistral, the entire Astral district has been bombed and they're executing innocent humans in the streets!" Sun exclaimed as he watched the news broadcast.

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"No this is serious, there are already over twenty thousand civilian casualties and just under half are Faunus fighting against the Fang. There are also over thirty thousand combined White Fang and law enforcement casualties and counting. Oh my Oum."

"Sun! What's going on?"

"Adam's there. He's fighting some unarmed hunter who is apparently part of the Atlesian warship stationed there's crew. He's a Faunus too! He's managing to hold off Adams attacks with some scale things on his arms and they aren't even leaving a mark on him."

"Adam, I should have known. Sun I'll be there in a minute but you need to pay attention and keep me posted. Ilia I'm sorry to cut this short but Adam who you seem so dedicated to helping just launched an attack on Mistral and is executing civilians and fighting even Faunus who try to stop him. I hope you reconsider your loyalty, bye," Blake dropped off the roof where she and Ilia had met leaving Ilia alone in the humid Menagerie night.

"You're a Faunus are you not? Then why do you fight progress for our species?"

"Yeah, I am and why does that matter it doesn't mean I'll step aside and let you kill innocent civilians. Now stand down and surrender so there doesn't have to be any more bloodshed," Alton answered Adams challenge.

Sidestepping another of the bull Faunus's strikes Alton fired one of the weapons he'd grabbed from Adams defeated consort, the bullet glanced off Adams aura. Adams aura glared suddenly and he slashed at Alton with his semblance active but he somehow blocked the supposedly unblockable Moonslice.

"How? There's no possible way you could have stopped my semblance," Adam snarled in disbelief when the fight ground to a tense halt with his blade pinned between Altons forearms.

"Well, my semblance allows me to absorb all kinetic energy that reaches me which I can transfer into speed, plus these scales are nigh on unbreakable you'd need at least four more hits like that to crack them and they'd heal by then from my aura that is probably at least twice yours, so if you want to keep fighting, edgelord, then be my guest," Alton smirked when Adams face or what of it could be seen around the mask changed from calm anger to open outrage.

The flurry of blows that came next were highly telegraphed and easily blocked especially with Altons semblance active now, giving him the upper hand in speed. Merely deflecting the blows off his arms Alton managed to hit Adam once for every foiled attack that came his way.

"You may have the strength advantage but no lone man can beat twenty," Adam gloated as another of his Bullheads landed behind Alton spilling two more squads of White Fang soldiers into the scarred streets.

But as soon as the Faunus had their weapons trained on the leader of ANCT their ship exploded behind them leaving only a glowing white sword hanging in the smoke before it cleared revealing a knight at least ten feet tall weilding the sword. The knight charged Adam and slammed its massive weapon into the Faunus forces who were caught unawares as it ran. Adam raised his sword and blocked the incoming blow but only just. Now on the defensive Adam was constantly pushed back by the combined attacks of Alton and the knight.

"A Schnee I knew that one of them was here in charge of that warship but another, well this is a surprise," Adam gritted his teeth before pushing back "However, your summons are rumored to only last a few minutes so I guess today I'll really find out."

Weiss's knight staggered when Adam pushed its sword away and thrust straight into its chest leaving it to fade away. Adam turned to face his original foe.

"Never turn your back."

Adam was greeted with a face full of buckshot when Alton pulled the trigger of a shotgun he'd grabbed. Adams head snapped backwards with the force and he stumbled and fell, his aura fading. Adam tried to regain his feet but was forced back down by the knight's final blow driving its massive swords edge into his shoulder. Adam grunted from the pain and blood splashed from the deep wound staining his near immaculate suit. The knight finally faded but it's sword stayed embedded in the Faunus terrorists shoulder but didn't stay because Alton needed a melee weapon and now there was a perfectly good sword stuck in his opponent. Gripping the ice cold material with both hands Alton wrenched the thick blade from his stricken enemy's arm.

"Get up, I'm either killing you fighting or you're being captured and I think we'd both rather you be dead."

"Heh, you really think you'll kill me? I guess there's only one way to find out," Adam stood and spit blood from his mouth before picking his sword from the ground and sheathing it "Let's start again, from the beginning. No interfering summons this time though, just you and me."

"You're on, edgelord."

"Been a while since I've heard that one," Adam remarked with a smirk.

"Well it's an easy one what with all the zippers," Alton said snarkily before lunging at the bull with a grunt.

Adam weaved through the maze of strikes that Alton rained with the knight's sword and as soon as an opening cleared he struck firing his sword from the sheath sending it flying into Altons face, hilt first and grabbing it midair after it bounced back. Both blades drawn now and both fighters injured it was a fair duel.

As the heavy bladed claymore clashed with the thin bladed katana another fight is waging a few streets down.

"You want my ship? You're gonna have to take it from my cold dead hands you bastards!" Nadia shouted lashing out at one of the White Fang soldiers she had found sabotaging ships at the airfield.

She managed to sink her fangs into the mans exposed arm before backing off and leaving the flesh to peel away and burn before the man dropped dead his face a frozen expression of pain and terror.

"Who's next? I've got enough venom for each of you!" Nadia snarled at the nearest soldier before spitting her potent poison at them leaving their jacket disintegrating as they scrambled to take it off.

The three remaining thugs glanced from the Adder to their four dead comrades and then back to Nadia before backing off and turning tail.

"Pussies," Nadia spat some blood that wasn't hers out of her mouth before boarding her ship and starting the engines "Let's hope I'm not too late."

The Adder lifted off the concrete landing pad and soared off towards the sector of the Astral district where the duel is still taking place.

Weiss's strength has finally run dry and her summoned blade fades in Alton's hands but he has enough time to turn his arms to block the incoming strike empowered by Adam's semblance. The shockwave that spreads from the point of the swords impact cleaves through chunks of concrete and solid plates of steel but leaves Alton completely unharmed thanks to his own semblance. Alton activates Kinetic Dynamo and before Adam can react is behind him and sweeping his legs out from below him. Adam hits the ground with a solid thud, attempting to regain his footing Adam sits up gasping for air before barely ducking out of the way of another low kick. Adam backs away from Alton, sweaty and disheveled from their grueling fight with his left arm hanging limply at his side from the massive wound that nearly took his arm off entirely while Alton is in no better a state with many small cuts and bruises scattering his body and all of his muscles aching. Alton whipes blood out of his eyes from a cut on his brow and Adam stands up a bit taller and coughs blood from where a broken rib has punctured his lungs.

"I'm sorry to fight and run but I have a revolution to run and my ride is here, I hope to have the honor of fighting you again..." Adam trailed off realizing he didn't know his enemy's name.

"Alton. My name's Alton, and yeah I'll be glad to fight you again just as long as next time I have my weapons."

"It's a deal, but we both know one of us will die next time too."

"And it won't be me," they both said at once.

Adam let out a harsh laugh that descended into a wracking cough. A Bullhead landed behind him and he jumped aboard before turning to face Alton one last time. Alton looked on as Adam was taken away and decided to have the last laugh and flipped off the leader of the White Fang. The Bullhead disappeared into the smoke rising out of the city and the sound of engines was heard behind Alton, he turned and saw the Adder landing before he finally gave in to exhaustion and passed out.

A few hours later Alton came to in the same bad he'd been in not twenty four hours before recovering from the Terrortuga fight. In the bed to his right was Carla hooked up to at least three IVs and multiple other machines. A nurse walked in with Nadia behind her both of them whispering urgently.

"Alton Mistral's under full martial law and the Mistrali forces can barely hold it themselves and need hunters to help take down White Fang groups, if you're feeling up to it," Nadia spoke without waiting for Alton to greet her "I understand if you're still tired and sore from your fight with Adam Taurus but you're needed down there."

Alton who did feel refreshed and had healed most of his minor wounds since the fight had ended was raring for a fight "Hell. Yes. Where are my clothes and get me Abbysus Ignis because I'm going down there and I'm kicking some goddamned ass!" Alton paused before continuing "How's Carla holding up?"

"She'll live but there was no way we could repair her remaining leg so we had to remove it, however we're due a visit from a doctor who is an expert on combat prosthetics and even spearheaded the Resurgence Program of which your experiment was part of," the nurse explained "I believe with his expertise and knowledge of your teams physiology and mental health he should be able to help your friend."

"Thank you, now get these needles out of me I wanna fight something!"

Alton was back in his clothes and rearmed within ten minutes and he and Nadia boarded a Bullhead loaded with weapons and supplies bound for the CCT that had been under constant siege since the attacks began.

"Where's Tiph?" Alton asked loudly over the sound of the Bullheads engines "I thought she was with Weiss and Carla back when I passed out."

"She was but as soon as she new Carla was going to live she immediately came down and started helping evacuation efforts and supply runs, luckily the riots and attacks were mostly confined to the Astral district or this would be a thousand times worse," Nadia explained "However, there were a few attacks near Haven but the hunters there handled it well enough and the school is on full lockdown."

"I expected no less of Professor Lionheart. What side of the tower are we being dropped at?" Alton inquired while looking at a map he had pulled up on his scroll.

"We'll be setting down in the northern plaza where the supplies are most needed and then we'll move wherever we are needed against any heavier resistance in taking back the Astral district."

"Sounds easy enough," Alton readied his weapon as the Bullhead landed before jumping out of the open door "Let's get these supplies unloaded, we're gonna need them."

Ahead of them they could see a line of Atlesian and Mistrali soldiers in full riot gear holding back a mob of White Fang recruits, all trying to get into the CCT. The line was briefly broken before a Paladin stepped in holding a massive shield and pushed back the rioters that had broken through.

"You must be the hunters the captain said she would send, I'm Commander Coal and I'm in charge of our ground forces here. I'm really glad you're here because the rioters have grown more violent and we've lost whole squads of men to-" the commander was cut off by the crack of a sniper rifle, his head snapped back from the force of impact and he slumped to the ground blood pooling beneath him.

"There!" Nadia pointed out the gleam of a scope in a nearby apartment "I'll chase them down, you hold the line!"

Nadia ran off and ducked through the crowd before giving chase to the assassin. Alton turned back to the forces amassed before him and nodded to the nearby medical officer who had assessed the commander's wound, confirming him as dead.

"Find me the next in command and tell him to meet me inside," the medical officer nodded and ran off.

Alton walked into the ground floor of the CCT and was greeted by rows upon rows of computers, all transmitting data between the other kingdoms and throughout this one. In the center of the large circular room that made up the base of the tower was an elevator surrounded by stretchers and medical supplies where the wounded were being treated. Nearby was a communications station where a lone officer was routing messages and orders between Atlas's forces and the local Mistrali defense force.

"How are things looking in the center of the Astral district?" Alton asked the communications officer while leaning over his shoulder to look at the screens in front of him.

"Winter just called in a full retreat on our air forces and sent out APCs into the city proper for survivor extraction rather than sending in airships, also the parliament of Mistral has declared by unanimous vote that all White Fang members that do not surrender are shoot on sight," the officer relayed their orders without even glancing up from his task.

"Thank you," Alton turned away and saw a young woman in riot gear walk through the glass doors of the tower.

"Lieutenant Commander," Alton greeted the woman noting the rank on her shoulder.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes, but first your name."

"McNamara, Cyan McNamara. Everyone calls me Cyclops on account of only having one eye though," the soldier pointed at her left eye which was covered by a patch.

"Well you are now officially a commander as Commander Coal had a particularly nasty run in with a snipers bullet a few minutes ago so as of now you are standing commander of Atlas's ground forces here in Mistral."

"I understand, I'll do my best."

"The first order you will give won't be an easy one though," Alton remembered the announcement by the parliament.

"Why's that sir?"

"Because you will be ordering your men to open fire on the White Fang."

The newly appointed commander gasped "But there are still civilians in the area!"

"Yes but the White Fang pose a greater threat than some collateral damage or at least parliament thinks so because they've ordered shoot on sight for White Fang members unless they are surrendering in which case a courtmartial is sanctioned for any who fire on a surrendering enemy. Any civilians found are to be detained and evacuated emmediatly as well, Mistral is officially under full influence martial law."

"Understood, sir," Cyan saluted.

"Don't call me sir, technically I don't even exist much less have a rank," Alon corrected.

"Sorry," Cyan left the tower and gave the order to open fire and hesitantly the soldiers drew their guns and let loose into the mob of violent Faunus.

Screams echoed through the square as the White Fang were cut down, those without auras falling under the hail of bullets while those with auras barely made it to cover with some injuries much less without. The Paladins released their massive shields and armed their machine guns, sliding the first of thousands of massive bullets into their chambers.

"Alton!" Nadia barged into the glass doors and kept walking forwards dragging something behind her.

"Get up and walk, prisoner!" Nadia reached Alton before her prisoner had the chance to right herself.

"Who's this?"

"This," Nadia pointed at the bound woman in front with her weapon "is the bitch that shot Commander Coal."

"You lose a single man and you open fire into a mostly unarmed mob, you don't deserve to be called peacekeepers!" The prisoner screamed.

"Listen, it wasn't our decision to open fire it was parliament's and second of all you should have thought about that before you attacked and murdered innocent people and destroyed millions of buildings," Alton retorted.

"The only reason you're alive is because we want information and someone tasked with such an important target will definitely have that information, so tell us what we need to know and you won't die," Nadia swung her kanabo a few times to drive her point home.

"You think you can threaten me? I've given up almost everything for this cause and if you think I'm going to back down just because you threaten me with what, death? I would gladly die a thousand grisly deaths if it would liberate our people and avenge our leader," the prisoner snarled and struggled in her bonds.

Alton squatted down to be level with her before continuing, "What do you mean 'avenge your leader'?"

"Oh you haven't heard, Sienna Kahn was assassinated by a human spy a week ago, stabbed right through the chest. Now we won't rest until she is avenged!"

"Is that so?" Alton stood back up "I'm going to ask you a few yes or no questions and you must answer truthfully but first, what's your name?"

"Choose your answers wisely, murderer," Nadia hissed, baring her fangs.

"My name is Sylvia Brass, aka your worst nightmare."

"Ha, don't make me laugh. Now first question, are you native to Mistral?"

"Yes."

"Do you have family in the city?"

"Yes."

"Are they in the White Fang?"

"No."

"Do they disapprove of the Fang's means?"

"Yes."

"Now what do you think your family would think if they were here seeing you tied up and being questioned by hunters because you decided to go and kill a commander?"

"My mother would be dissappinted, my father was angry with me just for joining up I can't imagine how mad he'd be now, and my little sister she'd cry because she will finally realize the things I've done for her and our entire species future."

"Good, now what if I told you I could get your family here and you could live that out, but if you give us information on where the White Fang are hiding we will release you to go back to your family and cut all ties with the Fang."

"No."

"How long has it been since you've seen your family?"

"About a year or two."

"Well would you rather your family find out you've died fighting a hopeless fight or would you rather see them again and tell them how you made the right choice and help the good guys."

Sylvia sighed and hung her head, "I just want a world where my sister doesn't have to worry about being beaten in the streets just because she has a tail and the people beating her don't, is that too much to ask?"

"It's not but the White Fang don't want that future they want one where everyone is a Faunus and the humans are wiped out, now do you or did you have any human friends before you joined up?"

"Yeah I did, my girlfriend she's human and I haven't seen her in so long, at first she supported my decision but now she's worried, and I've got at least three other good human friends."

"Now lastly, how much good have humans done for you and compare that to how much bad they've done."

"They've done a lot of good, so much good I can't even recount, there's only a small part that've done bad and that's the problem we're facing, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch."

"If you look outside you'll see that the White Fang are amputating what could be removed with a scalpel," Nadia cut in before backing away.

"Now, have you changed your mind about helping us?"

Sylvia sniffled and Alton realizes she started crying, she looks up at him with orange, tear filled, eyes, "Yes I have, I'm going to help you and then I'm done with the Fang, for good. I've seen to many people die and taken too many lives myself."

"All we need to know is where their base is," Alton said almost sympathetically.

"There's a large plateau at the northern end of the Central Mountains, our stronghold is there, that's the only exact location I know but there are probably hundreds more throughout Mistral."

"We'll probably find maps there, thank you for cooperating, I'll call for a Bullhead to send you home but you'll have to stay bound for the trip, if that's okay?"

"It's fine, I just want to see my parents."

"Okay, and seriously thank you for helping, I'll make sure you're pardoned of that assassination or I can just write it off as someone else."

"Thanks," Sylvia stood up and bowed to Alton in the traditional way of the Mistrali people.

"Take a seat and stay down we don't want a different sniper taking your head off, now do we?"

"Yeah," Sylvia mumbled feebly before doing as he had suggested at one of the many computer desks in the room.

"You handled that pretty well, though Carla could have done it better with her semblance," Nadia complimented Alton as the two walked to the entrance of the tower because another call had come in requesting their assistance in escorting some civilians through the city center.

"Thanks, even though I've never been much of a diplomat I think I did good," Alton said.

"Yeah, now let's get moving to the checkpoint on the beachfront of the Astral district that's where the APC is meeting us."

A Bullhead dropped Alton and Nadia off by a beachfront boulevard that had seen almost none of the bloody conflict sweeping the urban areas of Mistral's capital. Down the road the APC they'd been assigned to escort turned a corner its roof mounted turret blazing, firing at a group of White Fang who had caught them loading civilians. Alton and Nadia leapt into action drawing their weapons and gaining the attention of the soldiers opened fire, a volley of missile from Nadia wiped out half of them and a hail of bullets from Alton cut down the remaining battered combatants. The APC stopped and allowed the two to board.

"Why did we stop?" someone called from inside.

"To pick up your escort," Alton announced as he and Nadia boarded the armored transport.

"Alton? Nadia? What are you two doing here, I told Winter I had this," Tiphany objected when she realized her teammates had arrived to help which she desperately needed despite not wanting it.

"Obviously not," Alton pointed in the general direction of the defeated White Fang squad.

"Whatever, I'm fine now, you two can leave."

"Tiph, you need our help. As much as you'd like to you can't take on the whole White Fang yourself," Nadia stepped toward her feline teammate "I know you blame yourself for what happened to Carla but that wasn't your fault, it wasn't anybodies fault, so stop with this selfish, self destructive behavior and get back to being the calm, cool, and collected Tiphany we know."

"I'm really trying," Tiphany whispered "but Carla is stuck in that bed for at least another week tops and if I had just reeled her in earlier she'd be fine now."

"Look we can be emotional about this later but right now there are civilians in danger and we're their best chance at getting out of here so let's save the moaning and groaning for after the Fang are handled, yeah you blame yourself for it we all do but this is the best we can do to help at this point," Alton urged.

"I know, I know. Back on task. Our destination is the checkpoint that's been set up at the docks, we're unloading civilians there and from then they'll be taken by boat to safer parts of Mistral until the Astral district is sorted."

"So we were told," Alton responded.

"Yeah, so this is the third time we've tried to reach the docks and the White Fang have set up a bit of a blockade to keep people from leaving the district," Tiphany fidgeted with her tail nervously as she explained the situation "The last large group we saw had rockets, like the one they used to take down that Bullhead earlier. We steered clear of those guys but they're definitely getting more aggressive as their numbers fall."

"That fits with their usual tactics, I have an idea for the blockade and it may go well, it may not, but there's only one way to find out."

"Understood, Chief. Alright you heard him let's move out," Tiphany directed her last words at the operators of the APC who started the heavy vehicle moving again.

A couple of blocks away the blockade had gone from merely denying passage to attempting to gain passage themselves and had attacked the checkpoint leaving a gaping hole in their defenses, luckily Weiss had been prepared for the White Fangs heavy weapons and deflected a majority of the rockets.

"Is everyone okay?" the white haired huntress was similar to her sister in how she put her men above her own safety and helped them before tending to her own minor wounds.

"Ms. Schnee, we've gotten word from one of the APCs that they're on approach and are requesting passage," one of the soldiers assigned to comms duty approached Weiss as she bandaged a cut on her arm.

"Deny them, tell them to go to another checkpoint, we are compromised."

"Ma'am radio frequncies are unreliable, we might get a message through but with all this smoke and interference there's no sure thing."

"Then we hope and pray they get it or they're done for. For now we hold the line until our requested reinforcements arrive," Weiss gritted her teeth through the pain of standing again before walking back to where their makeshift barricade had fallen.

"The APC is at the end of the street, it's going to drive right into the blockade!"

"Shit, what do these idiots think they're doing?" Weiss said to herself trying to get a good view of the armored transport.

Meanwhile the APC was barreling down the street completely empty save the two hunters riding atop it and the third hunter in the turret laying heavy fire into the White Fangs own barricade.

"On my mark jump! Three... Two... One... Jump!" Alton shouted to his teammates as the vehicle careened down the road.

The three of them jumped from the troop transport turned battering ram as it smashed through the scrap wall before sliding to a halt. The hunters rolled with the impact before coming up standing and with weapons drawn. The surprised Faunus had no time to react before they'd been eliminated and now with the threat eliminated Alton motioned to the drivers of the APC who had been watching over their cargo of civilians while the APC was used for more creative purposes. The two drivers and the civilians rushed over to the breach in the barricade and hurried on to the checkpoint further beyond.

"Why am I not surprised it's you three that would pull something like that?" Weiss stood waiting for them when they climbed over the rubble of her post.

"Well it was Altons idea," Nadia suggested.

"But you went along with it so you're all idiots. It may have worked but it was stupid."

"Stupidly awesome!"

"Hush Alton, you're in no position to say anything. Why don't you get patched up here and rest until Winter gives you another assignment?" Weiss suggested as she surveyed the state of her friends who were battered and dirty from all the fighting of the past few hours.

"Ma'am your sister, ahem, the captain wants you four back aboard the ship for a return fire operation against the White Fang. She believes that the Mistral police force can handle the remaining White Fang and most of them are withdrawing anyways."

"Understood," Weiss nodded to the comms officer and waved him back to his post "Well this should be good, I guess it's back to the ship then?"

"Yes let's leave this godforsaken hellhole of a city, at this point I'd be glad to never set foot on solid ground again," Nadia pleaded.

"You'll be going underground into their stronghold and undermining their defenses before taking out their high priority leaders," Winter explained the attack plan to the temporary team of Alton, Nadia, Tiphany, and Weiss.

"How will we get there?" Alton asked pointing at the holographic map of the White Fang fortress.

"Why you'll be jumping of course, you three at least have practiced HALO drops haven't you?" Winter pointed at the members of team ANCT.

"Yes we have."

"Then it shouldn't be a problem, besides Weiss. See, she has a bit of a fear of heights. Anything more than a few thousand and you've got a problem."

"Winter! You can't just go telling people that," Weiss pouted before her sister continued.

"There will be three other teams HALO dropping in, they will go down first to act as decoys to draw your fire before destroying as many exterior defenses they have while you continue deeper into the facility. Be warned we will be enlisting the help of other hunters in this as we are expecting an army hundreds of thousands strong. Any other questions?" no one said anything "Good, the ship leaves tomorrow morning at noon and we expect to arrive at dusk for the initial assault. You are dismissed."

"Really Weiss, a fear of heights? With the pedestal your family puts you on that's the least I'd expect," Tiphany jabbed playfully while they walked back to their rooms.

"Oh, shut up. We won't be that high anyways, will we?"

"If you think sixty thousand feet isn't high then yeah it's not high at all," Alton said sarcastically.

"Oh, I am _so_ fucked."

 **Authors notes:**

Mostly I'll be sticking with team ANCT and their direct acquaintances at least until everyone is together but I have to advance subplot somehow

Basically Mistral is an absolute mess despite the full on purge that's basically happening in the Astral district and almost exclusively the Astral district, like I've got Mistral the city as a few hundred square miles and the Astral district is only like a third of that so that's basically if Manhattan had a social uprising of the oppressed minority

Bonus: the white fang are hyper violent but when faced with other options that allow them to avoid fighting while getting a better outcome realize they done fucked up

Alton is good cop

Nadia is bad cop

Tiphany is having a serious mental breakdown

And Carla is still down three limbs and unconscious

I love absolutely destroying my children, it's like building an amazing beautiful yet fragile house on top of a shaky foundation and then throwing many well aimed and strategically weighted rocks to make them fall down in a stupendous fashion before rebuilding them stronger so the destruction is even better next time

Angst is fun

Weiss goes skydiving next chapter and trust me she won't be awake for the majority of it

At this point I'm just using these Authors notes as a way to squeeze more words in but I enjoy it and if you enjoyed this chapter you should follow and favorite this story and leave a review for any feedback you have


	7. The Assault on the White Fang

The Tödlich Flüstern was bustling with activity in preparation for the upcoming assault on the White Fang fortress. Bullheads came and went transporting troops and vehicles to the ground while other ships were armed and fueled for an airborne attack. The Atlesian warship wasn't the only one on the warpath as it was accompanied by an assortment of smaller Mistrali air units and hunter owned craft. There were many hunters that had been called upon to assist in the attack and though many had turned their heads or outright declined the request enough had answered the call to tip the fight in favor of Mistral.

"I've got a bad feeling about this one," Weiss had been nervous since the airship had left Mistral "We don't know what to expect down there and we all know that the White Fang in the city were mostly new recruits which begs the question: where are their main forces? The answer is most likely here."

"Come on Weiss quit worrying, we've got this handled. Not only do we have the full light of this entire warship with us but we've got some of Mistral's forces as well plus a few hundred hunters, not to mention us," Alton attempted to reassure Weiss to hide his own mixed feelings "It's not like they're an actual army anyways, they're just a bunch of criminals and rebels."

"You're wrong. The majority of Mistral's White Fang are ex-military or were once among the bandit tribes which makes them on par with if not equal to a qualified fighting force which gives them an advantage defensively considering that half of their facilities are below hundreds of feet of rock," Tiphany walked into the armory where Alton and Weiss had been preparing.

"Lemme guess, you've been hanging out with the analytics crew again," Alton said turning away from his half disassembled weapon to his teammate.

"Nope, communications," the blonde corrected her leader before continuing "They were relaying some info from the Mistrali forces to Winter for some plan she's got cooking."

"I wonder what she's up to," Weiss finished loading dust cartridges into Myrtenaster before standing up from the weapon table.

"Probably something to do with the countless hunters that just arrived, there was a group of about twenty hunter registered airships that just showed up," Tiphany pulled up a diagram of the fleet with her scroll and showed it to Weiss and Alton.

"As I was saying before we've got this."

"Keep telling yourself that but I'm sure that something is going to go terribly wrong," Weiss looked at her scroll before gesturing to her temporary teammates "We're due for departure in ten minutes, we should finish up and get to the hangar."

"Sure, you two head on I'm going to top off Fulgur Mortem's charge and check on Carla before we leave," Alton nodded before he and Weiss left Tiphany to her weapon.

Once the pair had left Tiphany set her weapon on a table and connected its power core to a outlet in the wall before sitting down and resting her head in her hands.

"Oh what did I do to deserve this," Tiphany sighed as she talked to herself "First Carla gets hurt and now there's a good chance of me dying before I can say sorry. At least I've still got my weapon and a very real opportunity to kill the bastard responsible for the bombs," Tiphany was interrupted by the beep of her weapons battery at full charge.

"Well back to the front I guess," Tiphany plugged the large battery into the railgun and left the small armory to visit her crippled partner before the battle.

"Cream if anything happens to the Adder your pint sized ass is mine, got it?" the minuscule mute gave a mock salute as her fellow pilot rants about proper treatment of the Adder.

"Also be careful firing the auto cannons they tend to jam in low temps and honestly at high altitudes you're better off with the rockets anyways," Cream nodded in agreement while the pair walked across the hangar to where the Adder had been docked and prepped for the HALO drop.

"I'm glad you'll be our pilot for this op, there aren't many pilots I'd trust with my ship but you're one of them."

"Thanks Nadia, I'd say the same for you but I'm not that attached to my ship," Cream made use of her scroll's text to speech function.

"Why not?"

"Well I was only transferred here just after my graduation from the academy and just before we were deployed so I was given a secondhand ship that was originally assigned to someone else who had been reassigned but their ship hadn't been moved yet so it's mine now."

"Sounds like some paperwork was mixed up."

"Yeah, paperwork. Hey look your team is finally here," Cream pointed out where Alton, Tiphany, and Weiss had entered the hangar and were heading towards them.

"Hey Tiph, how's Carla doing?" Nadia asked the solemn looking blonde when she approached.

"Her condition is stable and right now they're putting the prosthetic caps on for when the doctor gets here, they said he'll be here in a day or two, other than that there isn't much else to be said," Tiphany spoke as they walked the rest of the way to their ship.

"Look I know everybody has their own levels of self blame as far as she's concerned but this is an important battle and we all need to have our heads screwed on right so leave the dwelling for later when we tell Carla how badass we were, alright?" Alton tried to put on a brave smile and it helped, somewhat.

"Thanks chief," Tiphany hugged her leader quickly before strapping into her seat.

The moments before the Adder lifted off felt less like seconds and more like hours. The stress was almost palpable in these few seconds before the storm amassing above the White Fang fortress broke loose. Below the Faunus were waiting in their fortifications for the onslaught, looking into the distance they could see the barest glints of running lights on some of the airships but the Tödlich Flüstern was completely invisible to the naked eye and sensors alike with its Atlesian stealth tech.

* * *

"How much time do we have?"

Adam Taurus was anxious, he knew the coming battle would cause heavy losses on their side and they simply didn't have the resources to evacuate their entire force.

"By our calculations there are two minutes until their weapons are in firing range and another ten after that until they can effectively deploy ground troops, they could however attempt to launch a bombing run but they wouldn't dare with the sheer amount of anti-air weapons we have," one of the officers in the central command station deep within the fortress answered the bulls question.

"Good, that gives us some time to evacuate our more valuable assets. Give the command to load up our best warriors and all of our sensitive data aboard the ships, I will be along shortly there is a matter I must attend to personally," Adam strode out of the dark command station and into the dimly lit hall and proceeded to a elevator which would take him directly to the deepest chamber of the massive stronghold.

The elevator door opens upon a long chamber lined with scientific equipment being monitored by many Faunus in lab coats.

"Sir, we received your order to destroy all replaceable equipment and transport everything else but what do we do about the subject?" the lead scientist wiped sweat from his brow while gesturing erratically to a massive metal door at the opposite end of the hall.

"Leave a few guards and someone who knows how to open the door and tell them to release it as soon as the ships have left," Adam nodded grimly with his hand gripping his sword tightly.

"But sir they'll die!"

"A small sacrifice to keep it busy until the hunters arrive."

"Hunters?"

"They've sent hunters to fight us, no doubt the best of the best, the thing in there will deal with them."

"Ah, very good. I'll make sure they're equipped with the best suited equipment to last as long as possible."

"Good, now hurry up and pack what you need and burn the rest, we leave in five minutes!" Adam turned and entered the elevator once again while the scientists and their guards scrambled to pack the most important equipment.

* * *

 **"We are approaching the drop point, make sure your oxygen is fastened correctly before equipping your chute, keep in mind that it's going to be cold as hell out there, like in the negatives cold,"** Cream spoke through the comm system with her scroll.

"Got it," Alton unbuckled himself before walking to a rack on the wall and retrieving his and Weiss's parachute "Come on Weiss you're dropping with me."

"Why do I have to go with you?"

"Because I'm the tallest and have the most wind resistance so we'll fall slower before we pull the chute," Alton began tightening his half of the parachute harness around his arms and legs before gesturing for Weiss to step into her half so he could strap her in.

"Ugh fine, but you'd better not get us killed!"

"You insult me with your distrust," Alton feigned mock offense "I've performed this maneuver hundreds of times and never once has there been an accident, well except that one time I sprained my ankle but that's because I landed on a loose rock."

"He's done it twelve times and he didn't sprain his ankle he dislocated his entire leg," Nadia cut in with a snicker from across the cargo bay.

"Not helping Nadia," Alton shot back.

"Neither of you are helping so shut up," Weiss had finally strapped in and after Nadia's remark her face had gone paler than normal.

Tiphany and Nadia had strapped their oxygen masks on and Alton helped Weiss with hers before he did his own.

 **"I'm opening the door, step back."**

The ramp lowered and the sub zero wind of the stratosphere roared in whipping hair and clothes around before it settled and became a steady flow of cold air. Alton could feel Weiss tense at the sight of the inside of the massive thunderstorm that hung in the air around them.

Alton thumbed his earpiece and spoke into the microphone attached to his oxygen mask "Alright, is everyone ready because it's now or never," Nadia and Tiphany nodded and Weiss simply clutched her harness tighter.

"Come on Chief, you know how I love to fly," Nadia spoke into her own mic.

"In that case, three, two, one, bail!" The four of them ran forward and jumped from the open door of the airship.

The wind howled and it was then they realized the clouds had opened up and rain was falling with them. All around it was only darkness and cold for a few seconds before lightning flashed illuminating the soon to be battlefield below.

"Oh, shit," these were the last words Weiss spoke before she passed out.

"Weiss is out, I repeat Weiss is out," Alton notified his teammates.

"Acknowledged, we should change formation to account for that. Tiphany and I will take lead, Alton you pull back so you've got more time to deal with Weiss," Nadia suggested already angling further down to take her position.

"Agreed, Tiphany take the left, Nadia you've already got right."

They glided down in near silence while they could see explosions and gunfire growing ever nearer where the advance drop teams were dealing with the anti air emplacements. Alton switched his earpiece to the advance team radio channel.

"How goes the assault?"

"So far we've destroyed or sabotaged an estimated fifty percent of their defenses and cleared a path for you to the entrance. We have only sustained minor injuries to our men and the androids have taken a few casualties and minor damage while the paladins have hardly taken any damage and are currently tearing through their main artillery batteries," the commander of the advance force answered among the chatter of silenced gunfire and tearing metal.

"That's good to hear, my team will be arriving soon we're pulling chutes now. I'm signing off now I'll meet up with you on our designated landing point."

"Understood sir, be careful around there though we've seen Grimm activity around there lately," Alton clicked off his comms system before pulling his ripcord just after Nadia and Tiphany.

The four of them glided down below the anti air fire that was targeting the airships that had begun to open fire and their constant barrage pounded the mountainside with tons of ordinance. The anti air was severely outmatched against the heavily armored airships as the heavier guns had been destroyed by the advance crew. A flight of heavy bombers roared overhead dropping their payload across the top of the plateau and caving in hundreds of chambers and tunnels and destroying many gun emplacements.

"Tiph, we've got a welcoming party," Nadia pointed at a group of White Fang who were entangled in a massive melee with a pack of Beowolves.

"I see em'. Nadia light up those Grimm, I'll handle the Fang."

Three volleys of missiles tore the Grimm apart while a few well aimed shots of Tiphany's railgun punched through the few White Fang who remained. Nadia and Tiphany hit the ground running and unhooked their parachutes before making sure the landing zone was cleared. Alton came in behind them and once he had released his chute he unstrapped his unconscious passenger.

"Weiss, Weiss, Weiss you've gotta wake up," Alton shook her in a vain attempt to rouse her from her shock induced fainting spell.

"I've got this," Nadia cocked a pistol she had retrieved off a dead White Fang soldier and fired it next to Weiss's head "It's time to WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

Weiss scrambled to her feet and pulled Myrtenaster on the snake Faunus.

"Holy Oum! Why would you do that?" the heiress was gasping for breath and clutched her ear which was still ringing from the rude awakening she had received.

"You passed out during the drop, Nadia woke you up. Now let's get moving," Alton turned and drew Abbysus Ignis in its dual smg form and jogged towards where the entrance to the fortress would be.

They reached the entrance and waiting for them there was a squad of Atlesian spec ops.

"Captain," Alton nodded in greeting to the captain of the advance group.

"Alton. My men are at your command."

"In that case head in ahead of us, clear the most immediate rooms and corridors, we'll be in as soon as we deal with something up here

"Understood. Let's move in!" the captain and his soldiers kicked open the door of the entry stairway and went down guns blazing, cutting through the few White Fang who stood to oppose them.

"Alton what are we waiting for?" Weiss questioned.

"Nadia senses some Grimm coming and we don't want anything coming in after us and we definitely don't want to be fighting this King Taijitu inside,"

"Wait, what?"

Before Weiss could ask any more questions the ground in front of them burst open and a massive King Taijitu slithered out before swinging its other head around to bear.

The ebony head struck out at Nadia before anyone could react but she was ready and jumped out of the way before slamming its head into the ground with her kanabo. Alton turned to the ivory head too late and only saw its fanged maw before being thrown into a stone wall. The ivory head reared to finish him off but when it struck nothing happened. Alton opened his eyes to see that Weiss had blocked it by skewering the snake through its jaw. The monster struggled to free its mouth from the blade that pierced its lower jaw and protruded through the top of its head.

"Now, now, we can't have you struggling can we," Weiss pulled the trigger of Myrtenaster which released and ignited a canister of ice dust and froze the snakes head solid.

In response to its head being incapacitated the King Taijitu thrashed in a vain attempt to smash the block of ice, Weiss was having none of it however and quickly pierced the snake in other places along its thick sinewed body before igniting more ice dust to fully immobilize the half they were fighting.

"Alton, are you okay?" Weiss turned to her friend only now realizing how bad the hit he'd taken had been.

Alton pulled himself to his feet and merged his weapons into their naginata form, "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the save."

"No problem, now let's skin this two headed freak!"

Weiss struck the now freed head with a flurry of blows which gained her its undivided attention while Alton used its distraction to activate his semblance and leap atop the snakes head.

"Let's see how you like this new feature I added," Alton experimentally twisted the shaft of his weapon and to his relief it spun around the central grip as he had intended.

Launching himself into a string of acrobatic leaps and tumbles Alton ducked and dodged his way along the length of the Grimm carving chunks out of it with his spinning dual ended blade. After landing from a back flip Alton glanced over at the other head where his partner and other teammate were having about the same amount of difficulty except that Nadia had smashed the beasts fangs through its snout. Turning back to his own head Weiss had blocked it with a wall of ice spikes and Alton could only watch as she vaulted the construct and stabbed the snake through the eyes before setting them ablaze with a massive gout of dust fueled flame. Alton jumped back on top the blinded beasts back and cut into it once more carving a path of blood into the scaled creature. The King Taijitu bucked and writhed in pain attempting to hit one of the huntsmen in its blind fury but it's attacks were only used against it when Alton used a bucking coil to spring into the air and spear the Grimms skull with a downward thrust putting the head out of its misery.

Meanwhile on the other end of the snake Tiphany sunk her flails blades deep into the remaining heads lower jaw crushing it slightly and pulling it open at the same time and Nadia took that opportunity to fire an entire volley of rockets down its throat the detonation of which completely decimated the base of the creatures skull removing the head entirely.

"Man that bastard was tough," Tiphany stretched before changing her weapon back to its ranged form.

"You think? I mean it's not like he literally smashed through the ground to fight us," Nadia laughed and gestured at the hole it had emerged from.

"It was a difficult opponent but we pulled through and that's what counts," Weiss wiped Myrtenaster clean before walking over to Alton and putting her hand on his shoulder "Sorry about passing out earlier, I hope my save back there made up for it."

"It's fine Weiss, you handled that thing really well in my temporary absence though."

"Thanks, we should probably get moving though before more Grimm show up."

The four of them picked their way past the bodies that crowded the stairway into the stronghold and began to descend into the cold stone depths.

* * *

"Adam you've gone too far. Blake realized it first and I'm disappointed that I didn't realize it then either. You just keep getting worse don't you, first it was an accident, then self defense, then it was justice, but now? Now it's just slaughter, that's exactly what you did in Mistral and don't try to sugar coat it! You killed innocent people, you killed children for fucks sake! You even killed fellow Faunus just because they were trying to defend their friends and loved ones. Is this the world you want, Adam? Is it?! A world where a Faunus is afraid to love a human not because the humans will ridicule them but because they'll be killed by their own kin? If that's the case then you can count me out of he White Fang, and after you sent me of all people to kill Blake and her family that was the last straw, she almost died but I figured out where my loyalties lie Adam and they sure as hell aren't with you! Now the twins are in prison and Menagerie knows who you are. You, Adam Taurus, are a murderer and a criminal, not a revolutionary, not a savior, just a monster. Ilia Amitola signing out once and for all," Adam listened to the voicemail click off after playing Ilia's message.

"Oh Ilia, you've made a great mistake. You've allowed dear Blake to live and now you're both going to die. Maybe not now but definitely later if I have my way. A monster I may be but all monsters have a reason and from one view a monster is just a misunderstood hero. One way or another you will bleed and I'll have you bleed with every last human in Remnant," Adam spoke to himself aboard his personal Bullhead.

"Did you say something sir?" One of Adams crimson clad elite guard asked from where he sat across the Bullhead.

"Hmm? No, I did not. How much longer till we reach the base?"

"Another hour sir."

"Good."

* * *

"Is this a dining hall? Really, a dining hall here, underneath a mountain? They could've at least put it close to the surface so they could more easily remove fumes from the stoves and ovens," Tiphany looked around the massive room they found themselves in on their way down into the mountain fortress.

"I don't think that they had thought that far ahead during construction and with a facility this big there are undoubtedly more than just this one dining hall," Nadia stood up on top of a table as she spoke to Tiphany.

"Is that really necessary, I mean the room isn't that big," Weiss complained to Nadia who only looked down on the shorter girl.

"Come on Weiss just because you'd like to feel tall sometimes doesn't mean you need to get on peoples backs about getting some high ground in situations like this," Alton chuckled as he looked under a table.

As the four of them made their way across the dining hall a large crash came from the kitchen in the back and a large jet of flame shot from a stove, then more crashing as whatever caused the original noise scrambled away from the fire knocking over more pots and pans along the way.

"Nadia check that out, we'll check the rest of the kitchen while you deal with whoever, or whatever that was," Alton pointed in the direction of the cafeteria kitchen.

"You got it Chief," Nadia ran across the rows of tables to reach the kitchen and drew her kanabo as she vaulted the counter to search the area.

"Be warned I am armed and ready to kick your ass if you don't surrender immediately," Nadia was surprised to see a pair of feathered hands shoot up from behind a sink.

"Please don't kill me, I was just getting a snack," a feeble voice called from where whoever they were was hiding.

"And why would I kill you for that? I don't give a damn what happens to this place."

"So you're not one of my superiors here to berate me for deserting?"

"No, I'm a hunter with the Atlesian warship that's currently tearing this place down pebble by pebble, now get up from behind there before I do shoot you," Nadia drew the pistol which she still had from earlier and pointed it at the feathered hands and then the boy they belonged to.

"Please don't shoot me, I'm unarmed, see?" The gangly boy stretched his feathered arms as if to demonstrate his lack of weaponry.

"What's that in your pocket?"

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean show me what's in your damn pocket."

The brightly colored parrot Faunus slowly reached into the pocket of his White Fang uniform and withdrew a few candy bars and a bag of chips and Nadia gave an internal sigh of relief.

"Ok that's fine, now explain what you're doing down here and why you deserted your post."

"Well it started with my parents forcing me to sign up with them and that was a few weeks ago so I'm a pretty new recruit. I was assigned to one of the artillery stations for the battle but when I saw one of those paladins coming our way I split. Next thing I know I'm hiding in here and you four come in. To be honest I didn't want to join the Fang in the first place but my parents said they wouldn't let me move out until I'd killed at least one human for the White Fang and that's why I'm here in the cafeteria stealing snacks."

"Cool, well your shitty parents are probably dead or arrested by now if they were posted here or involved in the riots. Why don't you tell us where your 'supreme leader' Adam Taurus, is?"

"Oh he's long gone," the young Faunus had opened a bag of chips and begun eating them noisily.

"He's gone. When did he leave? Where did he go?" Nadia puts her hands on her hips growing annoyed at the amount of info she's getting.

The boy swallows before continuing, "I've got no fucking clue, they grabbed a bunch of stuff from the basement and then flew off, they left about five minutes before you four got here," the boy offers Nadia a chocolate bar from his collection of snacks "Chocolate?"

"Sure. Is there anything you can tell us about the lowest level?"

"Well they occasionally take Grimm down there and there's a lot of weird noises been coming from down there lately and a lot of screams a few minutes ago other than that they keep it completely off limits, there's an elevator that takes you straight there down a few more levels though."

"Well thanks for your help, we'll make sure you don't get in any trouble for being here just lay low and stay here and we'll make sure that our men come and get you soon, got it?"

The Faunus boy nodded before combing through his feathers as the team walked out of the mess hall.

"Nadia that chocolate could be poisoned I don't suggest... Oh my Oum you're eating it." Weiss chased Nadia down the hall attempting to make her spit the chocolate out but failed and Nadia flipped her off as she wolfed down the last of the candy.

"Chocolate is my favorite and I'll be damned if anything, even poison, keeps me from eating it," Nadia laughed before doubling over and begins retching.

"I knew it was poisoned! Alton get over here and help me!" Weiss shouted scrambling to help Nadia before she realizes that she had begun laughing.

"Oh my gods! You should have seen your face! You were all like 'Oh no she's going to die! I totally called it!' Was I really that convincing?"

"Ha ha, very funny. I thought you were actually sick. I guess next time something serious actually happens to you I'll just leave you to laugh it off," Weiss turns and stomps off down the hall in the direction of the staircase they were looking for.

"Too much?" Nadia asked turning to her teammates.

Tiphany and Alton only shook their heads. They continued on down the dark corridor and down the staircase at its end. At the bottom of the staircase another corridor stretched into the distance but at the end they could see the flickering of sparking wires and a small electrical fire. Weiss stood near the damaged elevator at the end of the hall.

Weiss gestured them over before speaking, "There were gunshots when I got here and then the elevator came up like this," Weiss pointed at a massive bloodstain in the elevator and then to the bloody hand prints on the floor looking as if they'd been dragged away.

"What do you think we're dealing with?" Alton pointed out the gashes in the walls of the elevator, "These don't look like anything I've even heard of."

"I don't know what it is but I'm definitely sensing something really strong down there. It's big too, probably almost as big as the Terrortuga," Nadia shook her head.

"Whatever It is we've got to deal with it so we'd best be getting down there," Tiphany put her hand to the elevator control panel and strained its systems so the brakes failed letting the elevator drop straight to the bottom, "Ladies first," Tiphany smirked before dropping down the shaft.

Weiss, Nadia, and Alton glanced at each other before going down after her. There was a thunderous crash from the bottom that sent dust flying up the shaft blinding them and then impact as they came down on top of the smashed elevator. The smoke and dust cleared to reveal before them a massive corridor lined with burned and smashed computers and almost every surface was stained with blood and peppered with bullet holes. Casings littered the ground and the stone walls and floor were gouged with massive sweeping cuts. At the end of the room was a massive slightly ajar blast door, standing in front of the door was a woman in a stained and bloody lab coat clutching a pistol like it was the only thing keeping her heart beating.

"It's too late for me, just kill it," the woman had barely spoken when a tentacle like limb snaked across the floor through the doorway and stabbed her through the chest with the massive blade on the end of the appendage.

The woman was dragged screaming through the gap in the door leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

"I'm not sure I want to know what did that but we don't really have a choice, do we?" Tiphany stared at the freshly spilled blood in horror.

"If it's Grimm we kill it, if it's something else we still kill it because whatever they were doing here definitely isn't natural so we destroy whatever it is they left in there," Alton started walking towards the door with Abbysus Ignis drawn in its smg form.

" _Brrzt-_ Alton? This is Captain Lime of the advance force, we've encountered some hunters that have made it this far, would you like their assistance?" Alton's mic crackled with interference from the caverns around them.

"Yes send them down, I assume you found the command room alright with our feathered friends help."

"He was very cooperative and the command room is clear with no casualties on either side all command officers are accounted for except Adam Taurus and his lieutenants but the Faunus kid explained that to us. Good luck with whatever you've found down there."

"Thank you Captain, Alton Goldenrod signing off," Alton clicked off his mic and turned to his teammates and Weiss, "We should have reinforcements here in a few minutes, other hunters too so that should make this a hell of a lot easier so now instead of killing it ourselves we just have to wear it down until those hunters get here."

"Good, let's just hope they're competent and not just lucky," Weiss scoffed while drawing Myrtenaster "Now let's just get this over with it stinks down here."

The four huntsmen ducked under the blast door and were greeted by more blood and a crater. At the bottom of the crater was a pulsing black blob the size of a tank surrounded by bodies. Watching in disgusted awe the four hunters did nothing as a limb detached itself from the strange creature and reached out to pick up one of the bodies with its blade. The grafted steel cut into the Faunus's flesh like butter and the limb brought the corpse to the main body where a portion of its tarlike flesh opened up revealing a maw lined with teeth on every inch of open surface. The body was torn to shreds and swallowed in an instant as the mouth became a blender when the teeth spun.

Nadia doubled over at the sight heaving what little she had in her stomach onto the floor.

"That is just messed up," Weiss looked away in disgust.

Then the creatures mouth sealed shut and two beady red eyes pushed through its flesh and locked onto the young hunters. It's mouth opened again and this time nothing went in but out of it came an earsplitting shriek that rattled the eardrums of all who heard it.

"Well I guess that's our queue!" Alton launched himself into the crater and opened fire on the blob of oozing flesh.

Another blood curdling squeal from the creature before a few dozen limbs pulled themselves from the flesh and began to move jerkily as if they were the death throes of a massive spider. Each spindly limb was tipped with a massive blade either metal or the strange bone like armor Grimm had. The limbs leaped and jerked in truly unnatural ways but they were still capable as evidence by the long sweeping attacks and blindingly quick jabs they made at Alton who could only block them unable to dodge with the sheer frequency of the attacks. Weiss ran along the edge of the crater casting glyphs and firing fire balls and bolts of ice into the pulsing writhing mass of gross. Nadia fired rockets into the main mass while swatting away limbs that came her way. Tiphany ensnared limbs that went after her and ripped them from the body of the Grimm but the limbs only melted into the same liquid that made up spawning pits and seeped back to the main body where they reformed the limbs.

"Guys the tentacles just grow back if you remove them so don't bother trying!" Tiphany shouted while switching to range so she could at least deflect the attacks with railgun slugs.

"My dust isn't doing anything either, the fire is just going out and the ice is shattering," Weiss leapt away from a sweeping blade and cut another with a spinning glyph.

"I've got an idea! Weiss if you have any gravity dust we need to sprinkle that in the puddles the destroyed arms that way the just get lifted into the air and can't reform," Nadia called from where she and Alton were back to back in a tangle of slashing blades.

"Or you can freeze the puddles to give us an opening to attack the main body. From what I've seen that's the only way we'll do any damage," Alton called over a burst of gunfire from his bladed smgs.

Weiss nodded and jumped into the fray cutting limbs loose and spraying the ensuing puddles of Grimm essence with ice dust. Alton activated his semblance and carves a blazing path through the forest of bladed limbs leaving puddles in his wake. The creature is screaming constantly now in both pain and fury. Suddenly the creature stops moving entirely and the everyone stops attacking it as well in anticipation of what it will do next. An even louder shriek than all before erupts from the monster and all the frozen shards of its limbs shatter and are sucked back into its body. Now just a screeching orb a rumbling in the ground can be felt and just as suddenly as it stopped there is movement again but this time from the door. The team turns to see the commotion only to watch the door get smashed in by a swarm of smaller Grimm. Many are cut down by a hail of gunfire but many make it into the room unhindered but what's strange is they aren't attacking the hunters but they are being attacked by the strange Grimm in the crater, many Grimm are snatched by the regrown limbs and sucked into the mass of tar like flesh that is growing at an alarming rate. Most of the Grimm are eaten in moments but the last Grimm, a lumbering alpha Ursa is making its way into the room but is interrupted by a flash of bullets cutting through the limbs that reached out to trap it. The Ursa is distracted and turns only to see a flash of red before being cut clean in half leaving its fading halves laying on the floor in the midst of hundreds of rose petals.

"Who the hell is that?" Tiphany asked in reference to the quartet of hunters that had arrived in a blaze of gunfire and dead Grimm.

"That. That is Ruby Rose, and a few others but I could care less about them right now," Weiss ran across the battle scarred room and leapt onto a red hooded girl who had appeared in a whirlwind of rose petals, "Ruby!"

"Agh! Who is on top of me and why?" the young girl Weiss had called Ruby muttered from underneath Weiss.

"Ruby I've missed you so much!"

"Wait, Weiss? What are you doing here? We were told a team of Atlesian hunters were down here."

"I am Atlesian you dolt!"

"I know that but I thought he meant a team from Atlas specifically," Ruby stood up and dusted herself off.

"I'm standing in for one of their injured teammates right now, but we can catch up later right now we have to kill this thing."

Weiss was right the disturbing Grimm had healed its wounds and was bigger than before now taking up most of the crater.

"Well now that you two are caught up and our reinforcements are here let's kill this spiky bastard! Attack!" Alton charged into the crater and activated his semblance to avoid the flurry of limbs that swung at him.

The Grimm began to spin as the other seven hunters and huntresses began their assault on the strange beast. The Grimm would not give up easily, it was going to be a long night.

 **Authors notes:**

I finally finished this chapter! Man that was a pain in the ass to write.

To summarize they've begun a massive attack on a huge underground fortress in the middle of the night and there are tons of Grimm in the middle of everything.

Ilia has figured out what she's doing but that's a different matter entirely.

Nadia loves chocolate more than life itself and would rather die than give up chocolate.

Weiss is the overprotective mom friend.

I'm getting pretty good at fight scenes I think.

Team RNJR has arrived and they're here to help!

As always follows and favorites are greatly appreciated and reviews are your best way to give me feedback on how you think the story is going.


	8. The Aftermath

From the bridge of the Tödlich Flüstern Winter could see all of the battlefield below and to her relief saw fewer dead allies than enemies and from the reports pouring in from the many attack groups that had made it into the stronghold it seemed that more than half of the enemies forces had been cut down in the initial assault leaving the base itself with a skeleton crew. The captain turned from the cratered forest to the plateau where her ground forces and their Mistrali allies were ending the resistance of the White Fang who had so carelessly slaughtered innocent civilians only two days before. She sighed knowing that this would only be the first of many retaliatory strikes between the opposing forces. Winter turned her mind from the landslide victory to what could be happening deeper within the fortress, she was concerned for the safety of both her sister and the hunters under her command and the garbled transmissions they had received about a giant Grimm and experiments only made her more uneasy. Shaking her head to clear her head of such thoughts she turned back to the bridge and decomposed herself before addressing her crew through the shipwide comms.

"Soldiers of Atlas and our allies from here in Mistral, the outer defenses have been completely wiped out and our forces have infiltrated the stronghold to defeat the remaining enemy," A cheer swept through the ship with the news of this victory "but do not celebrate just yet for there are still enemies out there and the ground troops have left quite a mess and there are prisoners to be dealt with so let's put this ship down and finish the job we started!" Winter switched off the comms and nodded to the helmsman to bring the ship down.

The massive warship came down onto the scarred battlefield slowly and as the many ramps and exterior doors opened medical and salvage crews swarmed out to collect the wounded, the dead, and the destroyed tools of war.

* * *

Below millions of tons of stone and steel eight young hunters and huntresses fight for their lives.

"There are more Grimm coming this way!"

"Hold the line Jaune, we just need more time! Ren, get back there and help him!" Ruby shouted orders over the din of battle while staying focused on the storm of blades and claws that made up the Grimm they fought.

The disturbing Grimm grew frantic as more and more of its limbs were cut by Ruby and Alton who were being covered by Nadia and Weiss while Nora and Tiphany were dealing with Grimm pouring out of a collapsed wall on the other side of the cavern. Sweat dripped from Alton's brow in concentration as his naginata whirled through the Grimms limbs that had upped the ante as another slew of them had been cleaved by the red reaper. Alton activated his semblance and around him the world seemed to slow and even Ruby's blinding speed looked like nothing as he stepped serenely through the spinning storm the Grimm had whipped up. To the naked eye Alton looked as if he had simply disappeared leaving a wave of immense heat in his wake and seconds later his semblance spent reappeared where he had stood moments ago but the monster was down another score of blades arms. A roar of pain split the chamber and the Grimm pulled more limbs from its tar like body that was now frothing in anger. The Grimm spun faster and flung its claws with reckless abandon in hopes of hitting the lightning fast hunter and huntress.

"Can you believe this guy? He's trying to up the tempo! Well little does he know I've got the fastest blade in the east!" Alton chuckled and launched into a flurry of strikes that cut through even more of the monsters tentacles.

"It's like it's trying to get decapitated!" Ruby laughed while spinning Crescent Rose through the maelstrom of claws and blades that attempted to eviscerate the young huntress to no avail.

A tremor shook the cavern and the wall that had already caved in partially fell down completely revealing the tunnel the Grimm had been coming in through and allowing the Grimm to come in even more.

"Jaune, Ren! Deal with that wall, the other Grimm aren't a problem!" The two hunters nodded at Ruby and skirted the edge of the crater to get to where Tiphany and Nora were being swamped with weaker Grimm.

Another tremor shook the room and more rocks tumbled from the tunnel revealing the night sky and the battlefield outside. Alton was struck with an idea at the sight of the Atlesian warship outside.

"Everyone I've got a crazy idea and when I say now we all need to get out of this room!" Alton shouted to his team and team RNJR with gestures of acknowledgement from the seven of them.

Alton switched his comms on hoping that he could get a clear signal through the interference of the tunnels and the sheer mass of Grimm clustered outside.

"Winter! Can you get a lock on my position?"

"Alton what's going on in there we've got sights on thousands of Grimm pouring into the tunnels."

"No time to explain, I need the ships full arsenal lined on my position or at least everything that won't destroy the mountain with it. When I give the signal I need you to light up my position with all of that."

"Understood, I hope you know what you're doing Goldenrod."

"I hope so too."

The Tödlich Flüstern lined most of its main armaments in the direction of the now massive hole in the ground through which hordes of Grimm were pouring.

"Everyone fall back now, into the tunnels!" Alton shouted over the battle taking place around him.

"Alton what are you doing?!" Nadia shouted as she ran beside him toward the door that led back into the stronghold.

"Nothing stupid I hope!" Alton shrugged his shoulders and ran faster with almost all the Grimm within ten miles on his heels.

Alton slid through the doorway last and as soon as he was through turned to Weiss, "We need a glyph in that doorway that can withstand a bombing," Weiss nodded and summoned the strongest glyph she could which took every ounce of her concentration to hold.

"Winter," Alton spoke into his mic.

"Now?" She responded.

"Now. Light these fuckers up."

The thunder of hundreds of weapons batteries firing was hardly muffled by hundreds of feet of stone as it was all obliterated in the first impacts of the barrage. Thousands of plasma charges and explosive shells pounded into the mountainside disintegrating every Grimm in sight and taking the crater that the Grimm had been entering through and turned it into a accurate imitation of the shattered moon. In the now massive pit the cavern had become the Grimm had returned to its original form of a small pulsing ball of flesh.

"Hold fire," Alton spoke into his mic.

The smoke and dust began to clear giving Alton a clear view down to where the Grimm feebly attempted to grow another limb that only melted back into its body after a moment.

"Nora, smash," Ruby nodded at the hammer wielding redhead and Nora backed up and ran before jumping out over the crater where Ruby took aim and hit her with a electric dust round.

Alton, Nadia, and Tiphany all gasped at Ruby shooting her ally but Jaune, Ren, and Weiss only watched as the young huntress crackled with lighting and plunged into the hole swinging her hammer straight into the pitiful ball of Grimm. After the dust had settled a second time Nora stood unscathed at the bottom of the significantly deeper crater flexing and posing with Magnhilde. The fog that was left behind from the Grimm flowed through the air and disappeared into Alton, Nadia, and Tiphany and left their auras flaring brighter than usual.

"Alton, what was that?" Weiss pointed at Alton who was wrapped in his glowing red aura.

"That is the effect of our aura manipulation, the other effect is that I'm gonna be really sleepy for a little while so don't mind if I take a nap," and so saying Alton crumpled to the ground asleep to allow his body to adjust to the influx of power.

"Alton!" Weiss ran forward and checked his pulse and gave a sigh of relief to see he was still alive and breathing.

"Yeah he'll be fine, we all will, there's just the issue of carrying us back to the ship," Nadia smiled before slumping to the ground as Alton had, Tiphany merely shrugged as she did the same.

* * *

Over the next twelve hours following the defeat of the Grimm that came to be known as the Blade Urchin Alton and his team rested in the medical wing where only a few rooms away a biomechanic by the name of Geppetto Polendina was operating on the third member of team ANCT.

"Now the reason you need to be conscious during the installation operation is because I essentially need to rewire your nervous system and many muscles in you legs so that the prosthetics will take hold correctly, understood?" the short grey haired man in a lab coat spoke to Carla who was lying on an operating table in front of him.

"I understand, my question is what's with the straps?" Carla pointed at the straps that held her right arm and the remains of her other limbs to the table.

"That is to make sure that you don't kill me or any of my brave assistants during the process as it's rather painful for the recipient and we can't have you kicking anyone's head off. Now are you one hundred percent sure of your choice of prosthetics as it's not to late to choose different models or attachments," Geppetto gestured at the mechanical replacements that sat on another table behind him.

"I'm absolutely sure that I want a grappling hook in my left arm if that's what you're asking, same with the integrated scroll or if you're referring to the legs I'm sure about them too especially since they'll make me taller," Geppetto chuckled at Carla's joke and smiled good naturedly before taking a circular instrument off the table:

"Well if you're so ready to get started I'd best not forget the aura dampener so that you don't heal any incisions I have to make while we're operating," Carla nodded mentally preparing herself for what she was about to endure.

"I'm ready doc, just hurry up and get it done and if you've got anything I can bite down on it'd be a great help," Dr. Polendina handed Carla a rubber operating glove off of a tray which she promptly clamped between her teeth.

"Now lucky for you I won't be doing all that much surgery I'm just here to make sure everything goes right and any complications are dealt with correctly the real work is going to be done by the prosthetics themselves they'll be attaching and resizing themselves to fit your stumps snugly and then the painful part is where the artificial nerve input receptors use lasers to cut into you so they can receive and carry out commands correctly now keep in mind past the initial installation these are permanent and won't cause any additional pain unless they are damaged of course. Now we'll be attaching the arm first as it's the least painful and the easiest, ready?" Carla nodded and grunted through the glove in affirmation.

Geppetto lifted the carbon fiber and metal alloy arm off the table and made sure it was ready to be attached before sliding it onto Carla's scarred stump. First was a whir of gears and then the hiss of compressed air being released and sucked in from the many pistons and joints of the limb to adjust to the stump before the second stage. Geppetto knee the second stage had begun when Carla's hazel eyes widened in pain and she bit into the glove harder than before. It was over in moments but the second stage was always his least favorite part of the procedure with the risidual smells of burnt flesh and the pain it gave his patients. As soon as the limb had finished attaching itself and the lasers had been ejected Carla spit out the glove and took a deep breath.

"Spawn of a Grimm fucking cumslut! Damn doc you didn't say anything about it hurting that damn bad," Carla cursed heavily.

"I tend to understate the pain so my patient is less likely to back out. And if you were wondering yes it's too late now."

"Shit, we'll might as well get on with it. On to the legs!"

"That's the spirit! Now this is going to hurt much more so if you want that glove back?"

"Nope I'd rather curse it tends to help better anyways."

"Suit yourself, Jacobs would you mind strapping down her left arm so she doesn't punch through the table like the last one?" The assistant he'd called Jacobs strapped the bionic arm to the table.

"For your legs it will hurt much more than the arm because of two reasons, the first is that we have to do both at the same time so they can sync and the second is that there are many more nerve receptors to insert and a larger more sensitive area in general. Now on three me and Neil are going to put the legs on and Jacobs is going to strap them down right after. One. Two. Three!" Dr. Geppetto and the assistant named Neil slid the legs smoothly onto the stumps that stopped short of where her knees had been and once they were clear Jacobs came in and locked down the legs.

Once the limbs had adjusted the lasers started and so did the pain.

"Ah shit! Holy shit! Son of a cocksucking fuck nugget! Damn damn damn damn damn! Twat fucking cunt ass lasers hurt like a damn whore!" Carla cursed in a way that would make a sailor blush but was nothing new to Geppetto who had served in the Great War as a front line medic.

"Rather creative cursing Ms. Tan, you're done I trust?"

"Ouch, yeah I'm done but are you sure there wasn't a less painful way to do this?"

"There probably is but I haven't figured out a cost or time effective way yet. Now I'm sure your team are awake now after a rather daring stunt they pulled off earlier," the doctor help Carla into a wheelchair that sat next to the operating table ready for her use until she was ready to walk again.

"Yeah it'll be good to see those wise asses again," Carla twisted her left arm around to get a better look at it and smiled to see it twisted and moved exactly like a real one.

"I'm sure you're going to grow to like these new limbs, they may not be your originals but it's better than just having one arm and nothing else."

"Yeah you're right about that."

* * *

"Hey Chief, you awake?" Nadia gently shook her partner who still wasn't awake even after almost a day since the three of them had passed out.

Alton stirred and sat up after Nadia shook him again. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he turned to see his partner sitting next to his bed.

"Hey, how long were we out?" Alton asked drowsily.

Nadia sat up straighter before answering his question, "You've been out the longest it's been about twelve hours now but Tiph and I woke up about an hour or two ago. I would've let you sleep a bit longer especially since you didn't get much rest before we started that mission anyways but Carla just finished with her surgery and she's about to try out the prosthetics for the first time."

"Well I'm glad you woke me then," Alton began to stand up before realizing he wasn't wearing any clothes beneath the blankets, "On second though could you get my clothes first?"

Nadia blushed as she came to the same realization and hurried off to fetch her leaders clothes from where the nurse had left them after his post battle checkup. Alton stretched and noticed new scars around the scales on his forearms but before he could figure out where they had come from Nadia had returned with his clothes.

"Thanks. Where's Tiphany?"

"Speak of the devil and so she shall appear or succubus is more apt in her case. She went to get us some food from the mess hall," Alton peeked past the curtain and saw the blonde approaching with a couple of trays of food from the mess hall.

"What was that about me being a succubus Nadia dear? Are you just jealous because I haven't tried to get with you yet?"

"No, you're not my type anyways, too much boob not enough ass you know how it is," Nadia gestured to Tiphany's ample bosom as if to emphasize her point.

"Well to each their own, I see that our fearless leader has finally finished his power nap, care for a cheesecake Alton?" Tiphany offered a tray that held a cheesecake topped with a gratuitous helping of icing.

Alton took the cheesecake and before Tiphany had handed Nadia her tray he had inhaled the desert, "Thanks for that Tiph I was hungry enough to eat an Ursa."

"No problem, you've got a little something on your lip there though," Tiphany swiped at the glob of icing that had stuck to Alton's lip and licked it off her finger.

"Was that necessary?" Nadia asked.

"No, but it was funny seeing your reaction. Aren't you supposed to be the calm, serious one and if so you're doing a terrible job of hiding your emotions."

"What?"

"Oh nothing, you'll figure it out eventually, who am I to interfere?" Tiphany turned away and looked to the entrance of the medical bay.

A few minutes later after they'd finished eating Dr. Polendina arrived pushing Carla in her wheelchair ahead of him.

"Carla!" Tiphany jumped out of her seat knocking the chair over and ran to her partner, "Are you alright? Everything you still had is there? Nothing hurts right?" Tiphany checked over her partner who was having difficulty keeping her from lifting the hospital gown she was wearing that barely concealed her prosthetics.

"Tiphany I'm fine! Just quit mothering me and come with us to the training room so I can run through the obstacle course to test these bad boys out. You're going to love these things they're super cool," Carla held her left arm under the gown to keep the surprise from being ruined.

"If you three will come with us I'm sure you will be satisfied with my work on your teammate and then you can take her to see your new friends. Now come quickly I don't have much time to spare for calibrations or any last minute adjustments," Geppetto let Tiphany take hold of the wheelchair before leading the way down the corridor with Alton and Nadia behind them.

"Did it hurt? The procedures?"

"Yeah Tiph, they hurt like a bitch but I didn't cry I just cursed a whole fuckin lot."

"Yeah classic Carla even after you lost those limbs you still didn't cry but then again shock's a hell of a drug," Carla laughed at the recollection of the hazy experiences after the explosion mostly the gibberish she said while wounded.

"Here we are. Now I need you to complete the course within your average time to allow you to leave care though I will allow some leeway as far as this being your first time using these. Now go ahead and stand up, show them off, and then head through the course," Dr Polendina held a clipboard with a checklist on it.

Carla stood up from the chair and adjusted the gown. Her legs were wobbly at first trying to stand on her own especially with how different they were from before.

"What did you call these things again?"

"That particular type of leg is known as unguligrade which means 'hoof walking' they're rather similar to a dogs hind legs or a horses. They more than double your top running speed and let you jump about 15 feet straight up by my estimates. And you didn't ask for this but I thought from your taste you'd like them to have the four toed layout. It wasn't intentional but it ended up looking like a dogs paw," the doctor explained Carla's strange prosthetics.

"They also make me taller," Carla proclaimed proudly.

"So they do this makes you the second shortest team member now. Nadia you're shortest now," Alton joked while ruffling Carla's hair.

"I'm fine with that, I'm still three inches taller than you were before those," Nadia shrugged indifferently.

"You're still about two inches shorter than me and four or five shorter than Alton," Tiphany looked down at Carla who pouted and stuck out her tongue.

"Well Alton's like six foot three so hush. Now doc what all is the course here so I can get this over with," Carla looked around at where a course was laid out with orange cones.

"First there's a rope run, you have to run through the rings and not get your feet caught. Then there's the wall climb and no using your new grappling hook because that's cheating though it would be good to test it on the return run. Lastly there's a salmon ladder with a subsequent peg wall to test your grip strength. Now on my mark... Mark!" Carla jumped at the small mans shout and almost instantly tripped and fell.

"Alright that was not your fault it was the knee servo being registered for a much heavier weight. Usually it will adapt to different weights but you are much skinnier than expected and I turned it up rather high," Geppetto pulled a screwdriver from his coat pocket and adjusted something beneath a plate covering the knee joints of both legs.

"There, try again."

Carla took an experimental step forward and then bounced back before hopping around on her new legs a few times. Carla turned and nodded to the doctor in affirmation of the adjustments effectiveness.

"Whenever you're ready," the short doctor held a stopwatch at the ready and clicked it as Carla took off immediately.

The girl was over the ropes in a flash, the only thing of her legs seen were sparks where the metal scraped the floor. The climbing wall was just as easy with the legs launching her halfway up before her toned right arm and the artificial left pulled her up the last few feet without her legs even touching the wall. A hiss of air came from the legs pneumatics when they absorbed the impact of the huntress dropping from almost fifty feet up. Once she'd recovered from the drop Carla was back in action and skipped five rings going up the salmon ladder obstacle before swinging through the peg wall as if it were child's play.

"What was my time?" Carla called across the course to the doctor who was staring agape at the performance of his latest creations.

"Twenty five seconds and some change. You completely shattered your previous record which was still six seconds short of Alton who still holds the high score but only by a second. I must say you exceeded my expectations. Good job Miss Tan, you are cleared for active duty again," Geppetto turned away and wrote some things on the clipboard before parting with the reunited team.

"Try the grappling hook!" Alton shouted to Carla who was struggling to remember how to use it.

Carla held her right forearm near where the scroll attachment was placed and pressed a hidden button while aiming her open palm at the rock wall. A small yet sturdy hook shot out of her palm and embedded itself into the stone. The metal cord that held the hook reeled in quickly and with enough force to pull Carla off her feet with the unexpected motion. Carl flew through the air before crashing into the climbing wall.

"Ouch," Carla mumbled peeling herself from the rock, "Hey look, my hand shattered some of the stone!"

"Carla just get down here before you hurt yourself even more!" Tiphany called from the bottom of the rock wall which she was currently climbing to help her caramel partner down.

"Hey, you don't have to climb up here I'm fine, it's fine, just get down," Carla said to Tiphany as she scrambled to get down off the wall while trying to keep her gown covering her as much as she could.

Tiphany made the mistake of glancing up just as Carla was moving the gown and saw straight up it at a rather well kept secret of Carla's, "Fine I'll get down but after you're explaining something," Tiphany climbed back down the way she came her face flushed bright red.

"Oh no," Carla muttered knowing immediately what her partner had seen, "Can it wait until I'm dressed and we're back in our room?"

"Yes it can wait but I want a full explanation."

"I guess I'd have to tell the truth eventually."

Neither of them spoke of it to their teammates before they got back to the room they shared. Once everyone was inside Carla locked the door behind her to keep the conversation private.

"I have an announcement to make. Alton you can sit this out as you already know about this."

"Nah I'll stay, I'd like to see how you handle this."

"He knew about this? You trust him more than you trust me, your own partner?" Tiphany was unhappy to say the least.

"Calm down Tiphany, this isn't about trust or anything like that. He knew more about it that I did at the time especially since he has access to all of our dossiers and confidential medical files," Carla attempted to ease her upset partner.

"I still have no idea what you are talking about," Nadia spoke out from her seat on her own bed.

"Well there's no avoiding it any longer, I'm not a girl, at least not entirely. Mentally yes, but physically not entirely."

"I still don't exactly follow."

"What Carla is trying to say is that she's intersex. She has a rare genetic mutation that gives her physical traits either internal or external of both genders, sometimes it's less noticeable but as in her case she has one of the rarest forms which leaves her with almost full sets of both genitals," Alton interjected to help an obviously overwhelmed Carla.

"Simply put, I have both a penis and a vagina. That's why I've always been so timid about sexuality and the like. I just didn't and still don't understand my body that well. I've had constant crises about my gender identity but Alton has helped me through it and I've decided that this is how I'd like to stay," Carla sat down suddenly once she'd finished speaking.

Tiphany stood up and sat down next to her partner without a word before putting her arms around the smaller girl.

"You're still Carla though, that's what matters. You're still the youngest of team ANCT. You're still the reckless troublemaker. You're still the cheeky little pyro. You're still you and you always have been. I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that I was just caught by surprise and was a little bit angry you'd kept a secret like that from me."

"I'm sorry I'd never told you I just was never able to get myself to do it. I always thought you'd think less of me or you'd think I wasn't worthy of your friendship," Carla wiped a tear from her cheek and leaned into Tiphany's hug, "You're the best Tiph. Thanks for taking this so well. You too Nadia even though you didn't really react all that much."

"What's in your pants is of little consequence to me," Nadia shrugged.

"Is everyone done with all the sappy speeches and stuff because Weiss just texted me to see if we want to properly meet team RNJR. Then maybe we can do some sparring to see if Carla is down to fight with her replacements," Alton stood up and stretched as he addressed his team.

"Sure I'd like to meet this team RNJR that apparently saved y'alls asses last night," Carla stood up and walked to the door, "I'm guessing they're in Weiss's room or have they got their own room?"

"They're in their own but Weiss is with them."

"Got it. You coming Tiph?"

"Yeah I'll come. Nadia, what about you?" Tiphany turned to the last member of the team to decide.

"Nah, I was going to work on some rather ambitious upgrades to the Adder. Cream found some spare parts and weapons they keep near the hangars for repairs that I could use," Nadia walked out the door and disappeared down the corridor towards the hangars where her ship was docked.

"Well come on then, they won't be on the ship all day."

"And then I said 'I thought you had the map!'"

"Don't forget to tell her about the Nuckelavee."

"I was just getting there Jaune. So we ended up in Ren and Nora's hometown and then the Grimm that destroyed it in the first place shows up and starts waving it's crazy long arms around and this thing is basically a huge demonic centaur and then Ren just flips his lid and destroys it!"

"He was awesome!"

"I wasn't that spectacular."

"Ren, honey, you were amazing stop denying it. I was amazing too! We were all amazing! Except Qrow he was unconscious. But he was still amazing too!"

The five young hunters were in fits of laughter over the story of how four of them had gotten to Mistral when Alton, Carla, and Tiphany knocked on the door.

"Hi Alton, you three come in I'll introduce you to my friends from Beacon," Weiss answered the door and handed the three of them coffee.

"You're Alton right? You guys had some pretty sick moves down in those tunnels," Ruby said mimicking some karate moves.

"We saw some of your handy work on the way in, it was impressive," the black haired boy who team ANCT hadn't been introduced to yet commented.

"This is team ANCT or most of you I'm guessing that Nadia is fiddling with her ship. We have Alton the team leader, Carla their brawler who I was standing in for during the assault as she had been injured during the bombings."

"Oh my gosh your legs are so cool! Are those unguligrade? Oh they are! Your arm has a built in scroll too, that's awesome. These are really neat who built them?" Ruby cut off an annoyed Weiss to pester Carla about her new prosthetics.

"Doctor Geppetto Polendina made them and he did an great job despite the painful procedure. And not only does the arm have my scroll integrated but it has a grappling hook too," Carla smiled and held out her mechanical hand for the younger huntress to see.

"Wow it's so well integrated and so optimized that it barely takes up any unnecessary space and it even works off of the tension of the limb to release excess heat," Ruby rambled on about Carla's arm before Weiss pulled her off the dark skinned huntress by her cloak.

"Ruby! Stop geeking out and let me finish introducing them! Next we have Tiphany who is their tech expert and Carla's partner. The missing member is Nadia Alton's partner who is working on their ship, the Adder."

"Wow you guys have your own ship. So you're like professionals right? Kinda like Ruby's uncle Qrow," the blond called Jaune said.

"We're hardly professionals, technically if we were actually going to a hunter school we'd be in our first year like you the only difference is we're orphans and were raised by the Atlesian military and we've been trained since around age four to be Atlases best hunters and the genetic modifications certainly helped. Everything from performance boosters, steroids, and even a rather genius aura modification that makes us stronger with every Grimm we kill as you saw in the cavern with that thing," Alton explained.

"We're basically super soldiers," Carla said casually.

"Wait so you guys are only our age and you're already fully classified hunters?" Nora asked in disbelief.

"The fact that we're Atlases secret weapon makes us higher ranked than everyone on this ship except Winter herself. And yeah we're around your age there are no exact birthdates but we all have different randomly assigned birthdays a few weeks away from our actual birthdays so we still get to celebrate at the same time. Carla's the youngest she only turned seventeen a few weeks ago," Alton explained.

"Hey I'm not the youngest out of the whole program though just the team. Youngest in the Ashes program as we're called is Gabe Steel of team GAAY and don't even ask about the name it was Tiphany who set that up."

"It's not my fault all four of those dudes have the hots for each other the name was just asking to be made and before you say anything gay is a color it's a rainbow. And I was really proud of that Carla, I was a five year old who managed to use her semblance to hack into General Ironwoods personal computer and switch a few files around," Tiphany crosses her arms in mock offense.

"So your semblance is technology manipulation, what about you two and your other member?" Ren asked intrigued as he set down the tea he'd been nursing.

"I've got kinetic energy based speed and Carla has emotion manipulation. Mine's called Kinetic Dynamo and I get faster the more hits I take and I can completely absorb kinetic energy and turn it into speed. Carla's is called Charming and lets her have a narrow control of a group of people's ideas and emotions. Nadia has the ability to control Grimm to a rough degree letting her attract or repel them depending on her own emotions whether they're positive or negative, she calls it 'Halves of a Whole'. Tiphany's is called Wired and she can communicate and control tech and computers and to a broad extent even electricity itself."

"Are my hunters telling your friends how badass they are?" Winter stood in the doorway smiling slyly watching her younger sister get along so well with her friends.

"Winter, stop it you're embarrassing me. And besides they're not that strong," Weiss complained.

"The statistics beg to differ. They all have a higher Grimm kill count than the five of you combined plus their auras are stronger in general except Mister Arc who has a strangely strong aura. There's a scale actually and the average for hunters is four, these four are sixes, Jaune here is a low seven, and the strongest aura recorded was a twelve though there are legends of someone who would have had a twenty at least making them nigh invulnerable and they supposedly had something to do with the moon shattering but that's just a fairy tale and right now I need my team so I can brief them on an upcoming mission, Weiss if you'd like to go with them you can but Qrow has a mission for you four so you can't come with them," Winter spoke to the eight fledgling hunters.

"I'll go with them, sorry Ruby they'll probably need all the help they can get but tell me all about your mission when you're done," Weiss said to her leader.

"It's fine Weiss. Maybe we can do a mission together soon, something simple so we can just do it with the two of us so we can catch up more," Ruby suggested hopefully.

"Maybe."

"Now, Dr. Polendina is waiting to brief you on the bridge and I have to go meet up with an old friend," Winter walked off down the corridor to her personal quarters while Alton, Carla, Tiphany, and Weiss headed to the bridge.

* * *

The doctor stood near a holographic map of Mistral where a small town north of the capital was marked.

"I'm glad to see you made it here. Carla you seem to be getting around well enough. I'm going to cut the conversation short and get to the briefing of your mission. You'll be escorting me and a project of mine to an abandoned town to clear out the Grimm and test my invention. You are to only intervene with the experiment in an absolute emergency otherwise you will be protecting me while I take notes and record the events. As compensation the five of you will be paid well by the previous occupants of the village who are offering each of you twenty five hundred lien for clearing the village with minimal damage to the town. Don't worry about your absent teammate she has been informed on the requirements. Any questions?"

"This area is frequented by bandits, do you think we might encounter any during this mission?" Tiphany gestured to the holographic map.

"There are reports of recent bandit activity in the area but most steer clear of this town as it's been a rather dangerous hotspot recently."

"How many Grimm should we expect to see there?"

"Scans of the area indicate that there are upwards of two thousand Grimm within twenty miles of the town and ten thousand within fifty miles so you could expect to see few or all of those Grimm plus any that could have moved in overnight. Speaking of overnight we'll be shipping out in the morning and will probably be staying all day and night until the Grimm are dealt with so I suggest you rest well tonight so there are no issues during the mission. I'd rather not die this far from home so I do hope you live up to your reputation. You are dismissed."

"Well it's six in the afternoon and I'm bored, any ideas?" Carla sighed as the four hunters exited the bridge.

"We could train," Alton shrugged at as much of a loss as Carla.

"We always train, let's do something fun!" Tiphany suggested.

"Maybe we could do some sparring? It's training but a bit more fun and less repetitive," Weiss remembered that team RWBY had spent many a day sparring to pass the time.

"That could work. No aura, no semblance?" Alton liked to spar without aura or semblance because it gave him a challenge.

"Yeah that'll work, oh that reminds me about something the doctor said about my prosthetics, something about the aura extending to them unlike normal prosthetics," Carla scratched her head straining to remember what had been said.

"That's helpful especially in a line of work where your aura is the only thing keeping you from constant dissection," Alton joked.

"You're morbid but I guess that's the kind of humor you end up with when you see people die almost all the time," Weiss agrees with Alton.

"Hey kids could you lighten up a little? I mean it's not like our lives are on the line and humor is the only thing keeping us sane. Plus a healthy amount of sex and alcohol. And psychopathic tendencies. Wait that's not sane at all," Tiphany rambled.

"We're all a mad here! I'm psychopathic and have some asocial tendencies. Nadia has minor OCD and some traights of a serial killer. Carla's got ADD and pyromaniac tendencies plus social anxiety. Weiss has a bit of an ego problem and daddy issues. That's the thing with hunters we're not sane and if one is they won't stay that way for long; what with the constant life or death situations, Grimm, traumatic experiences, and the fate of society resting on your shoulders. We make do though, don't we?"

"Hell yeah, we do!" Carla shouted in agreement to the surprise of some passing crew.

"Yep, we're all crazy if that's what passes for an inspirational speech and actually works. Let's just go spar," Weiss facepalms and continues walking toward the training room along with the three members of team ANCT.

"I wonder what that experiment Doctor Polendina is testing is?" Carla asked Tiphany.

"Who knows? I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

 **Authors notes:**

A little bit of a more psychological look at team ANCT and I think I did it well.

They might as well give team ANCT their own beds in the med bay at this point.

Carla's surgery probably didn't sound as painful as it was supposed to.

If you'd like to get a better idea of what Carla's legs look like I suggest looking up pictures of the Elites from the Halo games.

Her arm has a grappling hook! Is that not cool?! It totally is!

It's also got a built in scroll so she can't lose it anymore.

The big reveal of Carla's not so little secret is emotional and very stressing for her kinda like coming out of the closet but biological, I guess, if that makes semse.

Team ANCT meets team RNJR and it's brief, don't worry though they'll get better acquainted later on.

Also joint missions. Yay!

Morbid humor and jokes about insanity are normal in the hunter community especially the younger ones.

"We're all mad here!"

Weiss is still not exactly used to said humor and insanity but is slowly yet surely getting used to it.

I wonder what it possibly could be that the doctor is testing? ***foreshadowing intensifies***

Thanks as always to the people who follow, favorite, and leave reviews, y'all are awesome.


	9. A New Day Dawns

Alton woke up to a crash coming from three beds over. Turning to see that Carla had accidentally smashed her alarm clock with her prosthetic arm he burst out laughing earning him a scalding look from the cyborg brawler. A snicker came from the small desk across the room where Tiphany had been checking some recent newsfeeds. The blonde covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter but ultimately failed leaving her in a laughing fit. Carla leaped out of bed in a huff and headed to their shared bathroom to prepare for their upcoming mission.

"What's her problem?" Alton asked sarcastically between gasps of air as he was still laughing hysterically at his teammates plight.

"I don't know but she seemed pretty unhappy," Tiphany laughed so hard she almost dropped her scroll.

"I can hear you, assholes! I may be crippled but I'm not deaf!" Carla shouted over the noise of the shower.

Carla's retort only earned more laughter from the two other hunters. Alton reluctantly managed to climb out of bed before pulling on his training outfit that consisted of an old t-shirt and some athletic shorts. The leader nodded to Tiphany before leaving their room and heading to the training room. Checking his watch Alton saw that it was only four in the morning leaving him about three hours to train before mission prep began. Entering the vast training room Alton saw that there were a few members of the ships night crew at some of the weight racks and the light near the door of the weapon practice room was red indicating it was active. Curious he walked to the observation window and saw a flash of white as Weiss summoned a pack of beowolves to attack the targets that popped out of the floor before she spun to pierce another target through the center the moment it appeared behind her. Alton let out a low whistle at the heiress's technique before continuing to the gymnastics area. Once he'd warmed up with a some stretches and push-ups Alton launched into a set of flips and twirls he found worked very well with his weapon. Running through his usual regimen of different acrobatics sets the time seemed to fly before he was interrupted by his scroll as he came to a wobbly landing at the end of a triple backflip.

"Hello?" Alton answered the call.

"Ah, Alton. Good you're finally awake. I'm tired as all hell so I'll keep this short: we've got an hour till mission prep and in that time I'd like to sleep as much as possible so just get Weiss and Carla. Oh yeah Tiph too. And when you get here don't mind the weird ginger outside she's been here since like two at the earliest. And close the hatch when you come in. Peace out," the only sound that came from the scroll was snoring for about a minute or two before Alton hung up on Nadia who he realized had called him at least four other times before he had woken up.

Walking back to the room Alton waved to Weiss who had just gotten out of the weapon practice room leaving the floor inside scorched and frozen which would be cleaned automatically in a few moments.

Weiss barely acknowledged his presence but that was probably due to the lack of sleep she had gotten the night before.

"Hey Weiss! Over here!"

"Hmm? Oh, good morning Alton. Do you have the time?" Weiss slurred sleepily.

"The time?" Alton glanced at his watch, "It's six ten. How much sleep did you get?"

Weiss paused and seemed to do the math before responding, "No. I didn't sleep at all. Period. I took a few short naps here and there but it didn't help, obviously. I was training to try and wake myself up. I saw a few of your moves back there, you're pretty good."

"Thanks but I feel like you should go sleep because our mission is in about an hour and a half. Also you may want to fix your hair," Alton pointed to Weiss's ponytail which was plastered to her back with sweat.

Weiss reached her hand to her hair and nodded in understanding. Giving a small wave before taking her leave Weiss headed back to her room to sleep some before the mission prep time.

* * *

"Hey Tiph?" Carla asked from her bed.

"Yeah?"

"I've got something to ask you."

"Well go ahead," Tiphany leaned forward on her bed sitting across from her partner.

"I don't want Alton to hear this so could you lock the door or something?" Carla pointed to the door tentatively.

Tiphany stood and locked the door as the caramel huntress had asked.

"Now, what did you want to ask me?"

"Well, uhm, what i was trying to ask is are you in a relationship right now? Sexual or otherwise."

"No I'm not. I'm not really actively looking for anyone for that matter, I guess I've just grown out of how I was back at the base. Back then I was bored and looking for some excitement besides the constant training and tests. Now I've got plenty of excitement and freedom so I'm not as active, so to speak, as I once was. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason just curious I guess," Carla blushed which made the numerous patterns of scars across her face turn pink.

"Come on, you can tell me. I am your partner after all," Tiphany whispered leaning in even further.

"Uhm, shit I wasn't expecting this. I was, uh, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out on a date or something sometime, in a couple of days soon, maybe this Wednesday?" Carla blushed an even deeper red while smiling feebly.

"Hmm, I don't know if I'm free, I might have another date on Wednesday," Carla's smile quickly turned to disappointment before Tiphany continued talking, "Who am I kidding? Of course I'm free and of course I'll go with you. You just pick the place and time and we can head out. It's about time you asked too you've been trying and failing to hide your crush for who knows how long! To be honest at this rate I was thinking I'd have to make the first move and with all the hints I've been dropping like the shower invitations and such it's a miracle you didn't realize I knew sooner," Tiphany laughed and smiled at her partner who let out a sigh of relief and began to smile brightly.

"I can't believe that worked! I won't let you down I'll make sure it's the best date you've ever been on!"

"Just having you there makes it the best date ever besides the fact that it's technically my first actual date. Now are you going to keep being an awkward dork or are we going to get ready for this mission?" Tiphany leaned forward even more to plant a small kiss on Carla's cheek before pulling away and grabbing her scroll from the desk leaving her enamored partner hiding her burning face in her hands while slowly letting out a small internal and external scream.

Just then the previously locked door opened revealing Alton standing crouched outside of the door holding a set of his hand made lock picks.

"Oops. Sorry, I got impatient waiting for you two to get done with that. By the way Carla, it's about damn time! Also sorry for listening in but Tiphany you forget that I'm Faunus too a little too much because I heard everything starting around the time Carla asked you on that date," Alton smiled slyly before slipping into the room past Tiphany who's tail was puffed up in anger and Carla who was still embarrassed but now for more than one reason.

"Don't worry about Nadia I won't tell her I'll let you two do that but she does want to see us at the Adder, make sure to wake her up, close the hatch behind you before that, and pay no attention to the ginger chick. I have no idea what that last part meant but whatever, now you two get out over there while I take a shower, I'll meet you there."

* * *

Twenty minutes after Alton's interruption the three of them had entered the hangar and saw no sign of the Adder or any ginger that Nadia could have been speaking about.

"Where do you think she could be?" Alton asked the couple who had been there for a few minutes before him.

"No fuckin clue," Carla said bluntly.

"She could be anywhere within a few hundred miles by now if she left," Tiphany guessed.

"You didn't think to look up. These hangars have roof docks as well to maximize space. You three must be the other members of team ANCT," a cheery voice spoke from behind them.

Turning around the three of them saw a tall ginger haired girl wearing a rather stylized Atlesian mechanics jumpsuit with the top half wrapped around her waist and a bright green vest on top of a grey hoodie.

"Salutations! My name is Penny, I assisted your friend Nadia in something last night and hid the evidence and her in the ceiling racks to keep the surprise, I can bring her down if you'd like?" the strange girl smiled and gestured with a remote she held in her hand.

"Thanks that would be great. How do you know who we are?" Alton responded to the girls question.

"There are two answers to this, the first is less conspicuous but as you already know who I am then I can use both. The first answer is that everyone on board knows who you are and there are a plethora of rumors about you among the lower ranks. The second answer is that you will be my escort for your mission today or more specifically I am the technology my father or Doctor Polendina as you know him will be testing," Penny's curls bounced as she spoke cheerfully despite her odd way of talking.

"Oh, I see now! You're the P.E.N.N.Y. project. I saw a report saying you had been destroyed during the Fall of Vale while you were posing as a student at the academy," Tiphany exclaimed.

"Yes, that is correct. May I make a request Tiphany?"

"Yes?"

"Could you please stop scanning my memory banks? It feels rather strange and most of that data is confidential and top secret," the android gave a knowing smile while tapping her temple.

"Wow, you're good. Sorry about that I didn't realize you could tell," Tiphany apologized.

"Could you get Nadia down now? I'm getting impatient to see what she was doing all night," Carla groaned.

Penny promptly pressed a button on the remote which lowered a covered platform from the ceiling. The shape of whatever was beneath was obscured by the large sheet that covered the platform.

"I'm allowed to let you in but I can't show you the outside just yet. Now follow me," Penny lifted a flap in the sheet that revealed the hatch leading to the hold of the Adder.

Penny opened the hatch and led the three inside and closed the hatch behind them when they entered. Inside there was a definite difference in the ship. The uncomfortable benches had been removed and been replaced by two rows of six proper seats along the walls. A small crane hung from the roof near the now evidently larger bay door. Two doors were in the walls closer to the front of the ship just before the stairs to the cockpit. While Tiphany and Carla looked around the remodeled hold Alton walked to the cockpit door and knocked. A thump came from within and the door opened to reveal Nadia wearing a similar jumpsuit to Penny except coated in grease stains and small scorch marks. Her hair was a disheveled mess despite normally being meticulously groomed to show the King Taijitu tattoo that took up the right half of her head. Nadia wiped the sleep out of her eyes before they adjusted to the light of the hold from the gloom of the cockpit which was lit only by the dim dashboard and control lights. A yawn split her sleepy face before she finally greeted her partner.

"Welcome to my humble abode, or that's what it was last night it felt like. I see you've seen most of the internal changes. Those doors there are a bathroom on the left with heated water and a shower, on the right there's a mini kitchenette so Tiphany can whip us up some good food and we don't need field rations. We've got fold out bunks in the walls above the seats and some lockers as well. Over on that wall there's a ladder, it leads to a flak gun I installed on the roof there's another you can reach through the engine bay. Come into the cockpit and I'll show you some changes I've made in here," Nadia mumbled in a hard to understand yet proud way before shuffling on bare feet back into the cockpit.

Her team piling in behind her Nadia showed how the navigation and comms stations had been moved back and to the sides to be just above the bathroom and kitchen. The cockpit itself was now raised higher than before to fit with the higher hull extensions. A new more bubble like window had been added and could also be opened to use as a quicker entrance for the pilot or copilot as there was a slightly lower seat in front of the pilots for a copilot, both seats were surrounded by control panels and screens which could be adjusted on hinges and arms for better views or for easier access.

Nadia cracked the cockpit bubble to shout to Penny, "Penny! Pull off the tarp!"

"Aye, aye!" Penny's faint response could barely be heard before Nadia pushed them back out of the cockpit closing the door behind her.

Herding her awestruck team out of the main door which was now fully lowered and was twice as big as before almost large enough to fit a tank through.

"Everyone close your eyes, I want you all to see this properly. No I'm going to guide you this way. Left Carla!"

"Ouch!"

"Your other left! Now get over here. Okay turn around an open your eyes."

The three hunters turned to see Nadia with a beaming smile of pride on her face with the almost unrecognizable Adder behind her. The stubby rotating wings had been replaced with larger sweeping wings laden with ordinance. Below the raised cockpit was a large cannon on a turret with two machine guns on either side. The thrusters on the wings had been switched out for massive engines twice as big as the previous ones. The main lift engines in the rear were much more prominent with much of the excess cargo space having been shaved off giving a smooth kite like shape to the craft a drastic change from the previous boxy one. The two flak guns were bubbles of glass with the weapons protruding from them on the middle top of the craft and bottom rear just where Nadia had said they were. Two small automated turrets donned the sides of the retrofitted craft between two pairs of angled maneuvering boosters. The cargo ship had gone from delivering dust and commodities to delivering soldiers and payloads in a night.

"So what do you guys think of the new and improved Adder? And before you ask, yes the cannon is an eighty five millimeter off of a Spinne scout tank, and yes the cockpit was taken off of a Geier bomber. Don't ask where the wings came from because I have no clue but they've got angles like a stealth bomber and all the ordinance racks to be one. So seriously what do you guys think, is it good, is it bad, is it too much, too little?"

"It's fucking badass! It's got a tank cannon! It looks awesome! It's got all those missiles and bombs and shit! There's even some guns we can use if stuff gets hairy. The inside is more comfortable, there's more storage for things we actually need, and a bathroom! You did awesome!" Carla exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm looking through some of the processors right now and this thing has both impressive hardware and software. You're running some highly advanced targeting algorithms and that is a very well programmed custom HUD. Even fuel consumption parameters are custom to make this as efficient as possible, I'm impressed Nadia, as both your teammate and a programmer," Tiphany praised.

"You did good, but I'm sure you didn't do it alone. Mostly because of the nose art," Alton pointed at the nose art on the cockpit which was invisible from inside.

The nose art depicted a snakes head with fangs outstretched and on the left side right on the edge of the cockpit bubble were three symbols, one of a winged snake, another of a swirl of whipped cream with a cherry on top, and the third was a green power symbol.

"Cream said she'd paint the nose if I fell asleep before the ordinance had been loaded I guess she wasn't lying. She must have done it before she went to sleep in her quarters. It looks good though I think I'll keep it and it's got all our symbols by the cockpit, my Drakontes, Cream's whipped cream, and Penny's power symbol. You guys should put yours on next to mine too!"

"I still have some of the paint from last night if you need it," Penny chimed in from behind, startling all of team ANCT.

"Yeah we might need that paint. Thanks Penny."

"No problem, friend Nadia."

The three members of team ANCT took the detailing air brushes and chose their colors before painting their symbols alongside Nadia's. Alton was finished first with his burning sword, Carla was done second with her cracked shield, Tiphany finished last with her love magnet a magnet that had a heart stuck to it.

"There. It looks good. Maybe we should get Weiss to put hers too," Alton stepped back and looked at their art with a smile.

"Get me to put what too?" Weiss had finally woken up about five minutes before now and had come to see if everyone else was ready.

"Glad to see you're finally up sleeping beauty. Do you want to put your emblem on the new and improved Adder with all of ours? You were kind of the reason we stole her in the first place," Nadia offered.

"Sure," Weiss took an air brush and quickly painted her snowflake glyph a row below the others onto the blue camouflaged armor.

"There we go, eight emblems on the cockpit and seven friends that contributed to the stealing and refitting of this ship. Now I've got to add some other stuff on the other side," Nadia grabbed some air brushes and went to the other side of the cockpit where the rest of them followed to see what she'd paint.

Once she'd finished four symbols where painted along the other side: a White Fang mask, a beowolf, a spawning pit, and a gun emplacement. Beneath each symbol was a small column of tallies: five for the Bullhead, forty five for the beowolf, three for the spawning pit, and seven for the gun emplacement.

"This is to show how much stuff I've destroyed or killed with this ship, this is so far before the upgrade. The beowolf symbolizes Grimm in general, the spawning pit for spawning pits and the creatures they become, the gun for artillery, flak, and the like, and the mask for White Fang vehicles and troops. I plan to drastically increase the amount of tallies on here and maybe add new columns too," Nadia stepped back and folded her arms to admire her handiwork.

"Just like the old Great War pilots, you've got the outdated vehicle upgraded and modified, the warpaint, and of course the kill tally. Now all you need are some goggles and a bomber jacket," Carla joked.

"I actually have some goggles but they're welding goggles so I don't think they'd work and besides they cracked last night from when I dropped a fuel pipe on them while installing it. Another thing I need is fuzzy die for the cockpit, maybe a little tree too," Nadia considered.

Six young hunters turned to see that Doctor Polendina was approaching with a wheeled cart laden in scientific equipment.

"Well I'm glad you used your time well Miss Cobalt this upgrade should help our mission to go much smoother. Now I'm sure you've all met Penny by now and understand what she is?" The five hunters nodded in assurance, "That's good that makes my job much easier. Shall we go now? I'm sure you know our destination. I'd like to get there as early as possible and it's already eight now so we'd best hop to it team ANCT," Geppetto Polendina spoke to the team from where he had stood behind them for the past few minutes admiring Nadia's engineering.

"Yes sir. You heard him, let's load up!" Alton turned away from the Doctor and with his team loaded the doctors equipment and their own weapons and supplies aboard the airship.

Once everyone including Penny was strapped into the new seats Nadia spoke over the comm system for the first time since the ship had been refitted, **"All ready for take off?"**

"Yes Miss Cobalt you may take off now and proceed to the mission area, and be careful not to fire to much ordinance near the town when we come down."

 **"Understood Dr. Polendina. Proceeding with takeoff now."**

The ship barely felt like it was moving and only the tilt of the deck beneath them gave any evidence they had started flying besides the dull thrum of the engines.

 **"Almost silent isn't she?"**

"I'll say. You did some serious soundproofing in here," Alton replied to Nadia's rhetorical question.

 **"Not as much up here though and despite the almost deafening sound of all the guns on this thing it's nice to hear the engines and it's helpful to hear other ships if they get close especially at night."**

The ship fell silent after that for a while before Weiss broke the silence.

"You're the actual Penny, correct? The same one we knew at Beacon?" Weiss directed her query at the android who sat across from her.

"Yes I am the same Penny, many of my parts were reused especially my power core and processors but I have only fragmented memories from what happened mostly from my last moments before losing power. I don't blame Pyrrha for what happened, she didn't know what I was and she was being manipulated. I'm very sorry that she didn't make it despite not knowing her well. It may also seem as if I don't know you as well as I did but I hope that we will grow as close as before in the future. As far as my other hardware I am almost completely rebuilt with better versions of my previous weapons and attachments. Luckily father had been working on a newer model for me at the time that he was or my aura would have faded before he'd finished. That's also why this new model seems older and larger because I need space for my new upgrades and to imitate maturation as if I had a natural body."

"That's all I needed to know, thank you. I'm glad you're back and I hope you can meet Ruby again too. She was, devestated to say the least when you were destroyed."

"I know, the last thing I saw was her picking up one of my swords and crying. She was a good person but I barely remember her at all."

"She's in Mistral but she's on a mission now too so you two could get reacquainted soon," Weiss suggested.

"That would be nice. Thank you, Weiss."

"I'm glad my daughter has such good friends despite being as different as she is. Do any of you know how Penny came to be as she is now? No? Well, I will tell you because few know and I feel that you should. Penny was originally my biological daughter Penelope, I always called her my little lucky Penny. She came down with an illness at age twelve a very serious illness that had claimed her mother not ten years earlier. She was very brave my little Penelope and at the time I had been working on a project for Ironwood: attempting to put a human aura in an android. I wanted to save my daughter or at least preserve her so I suggested it to Ironwood and he is a very good friend of mine he loved Penny as a niece almost and he agreed immediately under the condition Penelope agreed and of course she did she always wanted to be a hunter despite being a very frail and sickly child so I'm the last months before she succumbed to her illness I built the first P.E.N.N.Y. unit Penny zero point five an almost perfect replica of my own daughter to hold her soul when her organic body died. Then a year later after she had begun training Ironwood proposed we make an older more advanced body so she could participate in the Vytal festival. Then she was destroyed as the spark to light the flame of The Fall. I thought my daughter had died as some kind of twisted punishment for defying death once but a salvage team was sent to recover her remains and they found that the barest spark of power remained in her aura unit. I had hope again and I worked with a renewed passion on the body I though would remain soulless until then. When I was assigned to come here to give Carla her prosthetics I saw this as my chance to give her some field tests as up to this point she is an untested prototype with only lab information to run on. That is all. That is the story of how my lovely Penelope went from being a frail little girl to being a happy and healthy android huntress and I couldn't be a prouder father," Geppetto wiped tears from his face before hugging his synthetic daughter who sat next to him, "It's been a labor of love and I don't plan on stopping, I want to make her as human as possible with the assets available to me. I want her to feel human again. The first thing she said after seeing me once she had been transferred was 'Daddy, why can't I cry? I'm happy to see you but I can't cry to show it.' That. That was the moment I decided to make her as human as possible."

"Father, you're embarrassing me. And besides I'm pretty sure my first words after the transfer were 'Your hair is greyer than before.' because your hair certainly was much greyer than before, I analyzed the color in my memories and it was much darker before than then," Penny laughed.

"Oh, so they were! I guess I just didn't hear you over how excited I was. I was crying a lot too, both for love of my daughter and in regret that my partner who had worked so hard to help our aura transfer experiment become real, that partner was your father Alton. He's the one who came up with your aura modifications and my own daughters aura transfer. I owe him everything I just wish he were alive to see all that his efforts have wrought. You are so much like him too, but you have your mothers personality, she was very determined your mother, she decided you'd have her last name because your father's was Bismuth as in the element and she wanted her son to have a better name than that and he agreed she argued so well. Ella Goldenrod and Nathan Bismuth were quite the pair, a successful huntress with legends told about her in all kingdoms and a scientist on the edge of a discovery to forever shape Remnant. They'd be proud of you, Carla too, their adopted daughter whom they loved just as much despite having only raised her for the few months before the accident. I'd tell you what happened but I'm not allowed. I'm sure Ironwood will tell you eventually. All of you. This old man has talked for far too long I'll stop boring your ears off now."

All of team ANCT and Weiss who had been listening intently sat back in their seats almost disappointed the old doctor had stopped speaking of the times before and during their experiments Alton especially because he had learned more about his parents than from any military documents or any of Ironwood's sparse tales of the days when he was at the academy.

"Doctor, I have a few questions. You helped with my transfer to Atlas, right? I'd like to know something about my family," Carla asked.

"Ah, the Tan family of Vacuo. A very disfunctional family. Your father was a pimp who rather enjoyed getting rough with his prostitutes himself and your mother was one of his biggest earners. Your mother ended up pregnant with you and by the laws of Vacuo he had to help in raising you and share housing with you and your mother. He was not happy with this turn of events and beat your mother regularly and neglected you. One day the landlord called the police who were heading to check him anyways for multiple missed child support payments, they arrived to find your mother beaten within an inch of her life and your father over your cradle holding a gun. Needless to say he was arrested and his entire chain came crashing down. You were put into child protective services where Alton's mother and father adopted you and I haven't heard a word of your mother since," Geppetto explained.

"So what I heard is true, I'm a bastard child, my father was an abusive pimp, and my mother was a whore at least I've come farther then either of them ever did."

"Your mother was an ambitious young woman and I'm sure she's done better for herself since. She was only twelve when you were born after all which was another reason he was arrested, many of his employees were under age and from poor backgrounds. The last thing I heard was that the headmistress of Shade had taken her under her wing."

"She'd only be twenty nine now then. I'm the one that did that to her. Well technically it was my dad but I'm the one who was born in the first place."

"Don't blame yourself, Ashra Tan was a loving young woman and had it not been for the laws she could have taken care of you herself. She was very against you being taken away but she couldn't get an education while taking care of a child and reluctantly gave you up to CPS for both your and her better interests so you'd have a better life and she could make her own better."

"If it weren't for your dads terrible decision making skills and poor judgement as well as his lack of morals and despicable nature you wouldn't be here, so if I could I'd go back to thank him and then kick his ass!" Tiphany exclaimed pulling her partner into a tight hug.

"Thanks Tiph."

"Yep, you two hug it out. I'm going to take a nap, wake me when we get there in the..." Alton glanced at his watch, "Hour it will take from now."

Alton went to sleep almost immediately and eventually his teammates except for Nadia who was at the controls were asleep. Then the dream began.

* * *

It started as always with darkness and then a loud slamming noise like a large door. There was rushed breathing and a low rumbling could be felt beneath them. Then the babies started crying, they could never tell if they were the babies or the babies were just close by. More slammed doors and running feet on metal. Suddenly bright lights, florescent. More running. Now yelling, frantic yelling. Gunshots, short bursts of gunfire punctuated by screams and explosions. Fire roared around them now, it was too hot. Smoke clouded the air. A silhouette could be seen through the smoke emerging from the crackling flames. A small girl hovering just above the ground shrouded in flames, surrounded by floating shards of dust and metal. More gunshots, close by this time. A scream, not fear, not pain, but anguish. Another silhouette jumps from behind the girl tackling her. The woman has auburn hair and wields a long thin sword the color of the fire around her. She tries to restrain the girl and mutters something in her ear trying to stop the stream of tears coming from her eyes. The woman looks up and shouts at someone behind the dreamers, "Take the children. Go now!"

Suddenly the woman's eyes go wide, a spear of jagged metal and dust through her chest disintigrates as blood pools from the wound. Her eyes slowly close and she mouths five words before taking her last breath, "You're strong child. I'm proud."

The huntresses body is consumed in the flames as they are carried farther into the dream. A ceiling collapses behind them more screams are heard from those who were left behind to burn. Soldiers take up positions in the hallway ahead of the fire allowing those fleeing to pass. The fear is evident on their faces knowing that a huntress has already died. A young doctor steps forward with the soldiers. The dream pauses and they stop moving for a moment. The girl emerges from the fire again, her aura flaring many colors and her eyes a mixture of emotions and colors before they settle on uncaring and pitch black. The doctor takes another step before the girl, the thing, lifts him in the air by a single hand.

"Nathan!" A scream from further down the hall.

The doctor waves it off like it's nothing despite the sweat pouring down his face.

"What's gotten into you, Ash? You're usually so quite and nice. Why are you doing these things?" The man almost whispered to the girl.

"I don't know. She wants me to. I can't tell her no, she has full control over not just me but all of them," the girls eyes shift back to amber and tears roll down her cheeks.

"Who's telling you to do this? And who else is she controlling?" The man speaks calmly despite the chaos.

"I don't know. She told me to call her Mistress. And you know who else, the voices. All the voices that talk to me, in my head. There are less than before but I'm stronger because of it. I don't know why. I just want to stop killing everyone. I already killed Ella. I'm so sorry, I just couldn't stop her. I told her to run. I'm scared Nathan."

"Ella is dead? Now I'm getting rather angry with this 'Mistress' person. Why don't you stop floating, dear? Just come down and let it all go."

The girl sank down to the floor and slumped into the scientists arms and he cradled her gently. A flash of flame launched itself up the hall and almost instantly died out but the damage was done and the tar eyes were back. The doctor was being held by his throat and a strange black aura surrounded the child.

"Nathan! No, stop. I can't do this! I've already killed too many! No more!" The girls screams went unheard as she struggled to keep her own arm from slitting the mans throat in which she failed eventually.

Blood pooled on the floor before the girl sunk to the floor in a heap, crying. A soldier attempted to approach her from the line that had formed and was struck down by a steel beam that came flying out of the collapsing structure. The girl grabbed the sides of her head and screamed in a way that wasn't humanly possible before reverting to the ghastly form of herself from prior. The girl slowly floated up the hallway and the few bullets that actually hit her did just that, they hit her. Bullets sunk deep into her flesh and bleeding profusely from her wounds but unfazed she continued on the rampage. Suddenly the dream changed as it always did and it was cold, cold and wet. It was a mix of snow and rain and salt could be smelled in the air. A howl was heard in the distance but all was drowned out by the engine of an airship and before the dream ended all that was seen was a smoking crater in the side of a seaside cliff and the smell of the acrid smoke of burnt bodies filled the air.

* * *

The three sleeping members of team ANCT woke with a start. Tiphany fell off of Carla's lap where she had ended up again and landed on the floor. The three looked at each other in confirmation of whether they had all had the same dream and the nods they each gave was all that was needed. Alton looked around and saw Nadia sitting on a crate near the ramp of the landed Adder staring out at a green laser light show in the ruins of the village.

"Hey Nadia, you might want to hear this," Alton approached his partner.

"What happened? You guys were making weird noises in your sleep, and we got here like an hour ago and you didn't wake up once when we tried."

"Long story short, we had that fucked up dream again."

"The one where we're babies?"

"Yeah that one. But it went farther than usual, we usually only make it to the first explosion but this time we saw the whole thing. It was the first experiment. The Ash project. She went rogue and destroyed the whole thing. She killed my parents. I remember it all now. They cared for her and she killed them, no remorse, no guilt, nothing. She impaled my mom and left her to burn and then she slit my dads throat. She couldn't have been more than six. What the hell happened back then. What did they do?" Alton slammed his fist into the wall in frustration.

Nadia pulled her partner to her shoulder and held him there, "I don't know but eventually we'll get some answers so there's nothing we can do now. It would just be best to keep doing what we're doing. Maybe we could ask Ironwood next time we see him?"

"Yeah that could work. How's Penny been doing?"

"Absolute slaughter. She's been going through the burnt out part of the town to keep damage low and she's just been tearing through them like wet paper bags. Those lasers do some damn work. The Doc left the other less ruined side for us to deal with and clear out to avoid collateral damage. Should we head out now or should we wait a minute for you to recover?" Nadia gestured to the carnage outside.

Alton looked over his shoulder to where Tiphany and Carla were consoling each other over the shared dream, Carla took Tiphany's hand and whispered something to her and in response the cat Faunus laughed and pat the caramel brawler on the back before getting to her feet.

"We're good Chief, let's move," Tiphany have a shaky thumbs up and Carla nodded beside her.

"Alright, grab your weapons and let's go."

* * *

ANCT had been patrolling the other half of town for only an hour before they saw some action. The majority of buildings were under massive trees that had grown inside the village putting a leafy canopy over what was now revealed to be a much larger portion of the town. A small pack of beowolves charged straight out of the underbrush at them but before weapons could be drawn had run straight past towards where Penny was destroying the majority of the Grimm. Shrugging Alton continued forward with his teammates right behind. Another few minutes passed before a gunshot pierced the eery silence. The sound of a wall crumbling echoed through the dark streets and led the team straight to the source. A two story home stood on the corner of two roads with the wall of one room crushed outward and a body laying in the rubble. Another gunshot is heard, a shotgun specifically. A window is smashed on the second floor and a person dressed in bandit colors is thrown out of it before landing on the concrete with a wet snap accompanied by a fountain of blood coming from the shattered and snapped bones protruding from many parts of the bandits torso. A scream of fear and panic is heard inside and Alton walks through the destroyed wall to investigate leaving the rest of his team to make sure no one leaves the building and inspect the bodies.

"For the last time, tell me. Where. She. Is!" A woman's voice shouts from inside a room upstairs with a smashed door.

Alton looks into the room to see a bearded man pinned to the floor by a young huntress with no discernible weapons.

"I'm telling you blondie, I've got no clue where the tribe went! We're a scouting party, we look for good looting opportunities and we report them back. Nobody tells us shit," the bearded man spat on the ground beside him.

The blonde huntress remained unconvinced and picked the man up like he was a doll and snapped his leg like uncooked spaghetti, "Are you going to tell me the truth now or do I need to break something else?"

The man let out a scream of pain and with tears in his eyes gave up, "I might've heard something about where we were going but I'm not going to tell you if you're just gonna kill me!"

"Then tell me and I might have mercy."

"They're going to the Flame Gulf, near Shatter-point Peak. The entire tribe is moving there, even the permanent camps. She's scared of something. I don't know what but it takes something big to scare the chief like that."

"Thank you for your honesty. Now I'm going to have mercy on your pitiful life and kill you," the blonde punched the air activating a shotgun gauntlet cleverly disguised as a bracelet.

"No! Please. You said you'd have mercy!"

"This is a small mercy compared to what the authorities would do to you if you were caught or if I turned you in. You've got a large bounty on your head and from what I hear you're charged with murder and slavery among other things, and the penalty for them is death. Your leg is broken and you're in the middle of the forest with tons of Grimm and your friends are dead so I'm giving you a quicker and easier end to your suffering," the blonde sighed before smashing her right hand through the mans throat leaving his head dangling almost straight down by a flap of flesh.

"That was... excessive," the blonde turned to see Alton in the doorway, "You could have just left him for the Grimm but instead you decide to get that rather nice prosthetic dirty with his blood. I'm surprised you're here of all places as well, last your sister told us you were sulking in your dads house. So tell me, why are you here Yang Xiao Long?"

 **Authors notes:**

Team ANCT aren't morning people by choice it was their military upbringing that did that.

Alton practices gymnastics and acrobatics for using his weapon.

Do not talk to Weiss before her third coffee, she won't remember half the conversation.

Carla has been crushing on Tiphany since they met and she was very obvious about it whereas Tiphany has had a crush on Carla for about the same time but it was much more subtle and only got rather intense recently.

Camouflage begins here and they are going to be insufferably adorable.

Alton is spec ops of course he knows how to pick a lock.

Penny! At this point Penny is back in the prototype stage and also looks rather different than before, mostly more mature. She had longer hair, she's taller, she's filled out a bit more, the usual late to mid puberty stuff. Her outfit will be changing this is just temporary until she enters actual combat duty.

The Adder has been born anew and now it looks like the love child of a stealth helicopter and a Pelican from Halo. Keep in mind before it was basically a cargo crate with wings.

Excessive firepower is excessive.

Tiphany is an aspiring cook.

I imagine the aesthetic of the Great War was like WWI to WWII which explains the nose art idea.

Nadia's emblem, the Drakontes is the flying snake from Greek mythology.

Long airship flights equal long talks about the past and emotional confessions.

Shared dreams that are actually memories that were repressed because of childhood trauma. Keep in mind the four of them were almost a year old at the time and Carla was much younger only a few months.

I wonder who this "Ash" girl could be? First person to guess right in a review gets ten bucks! (Not really I'm too broke for that)

Penny kicks ass with giant fucking lasers!

Yang. That is all.

Alton slowly recognized her from pictures he'd seen from Weiss and Ruby plus he had watched the Vytal festival.

Longest chapter so far. Go me!

Thanks as always to the people who follow, favorite, and review! It all means a lot and it's really good motivation to keep writing because I'm glad that my writing is making people happy.


	10. Sleep is for the weak

"Penny, how are your heat levels looking? The lasers are causing a bit of scanning interference."

Penny paused her rampage of destruction to respond to her father who had set up his equipment in a mostly intact stone building surrounded by open ground before the carnage of the burned out half of the town.

"All weapons are just within sixty percent of heat threshold. Thrusters are within thirty. The Grimm are thinning out, should I stop to cool off?" Penny hovered well above the many disintegrating Grimm being held aloft by her half deployed flight module that had seen sparse use during its original installation on version two.

"Yes, you should be cooled down by the time team ANCT finishes their patrol, hopefully."

"They'll be back doctor. Besides they can handle themselves. They're not children. Just give them some time," Weiss assured the elderly scientist.

* * *

"Who are you? If you're more bandits there's plenty more where that came from! And how do you know who I am?" Yangs eyes burned red and her hair was on fire to Alton's surprise.

"Calm down. We don't want to fight you, we just stumbled on your little information gathering while patrolling the rest of this town for Grimm before continuing our mission. My name's Alton. My teammates are outside if you'd like to meet them too."

"Oh, you're hunters, good I didn't feel like killing anyone else. So where are you guys from? Haven? Shade? Maybe even Beacon, no I'd recognize you if you were from Beacon."

"Atlas actually."

"You're a long way from home then. You said something about my sister, where is she? Is she alright?"

"Ruby's in Mistral with the rest of RNJR. They're on a mission with your uncle right now."

"Qrow. Should have figured he'd be with them. Alright, if you can take me to them I'll stick with your team for tonight. The sun's getting low if I'm going to get introduced to your team we'd best head to your ship or wherever you've dug in for the night. Let me just get my bike," Yang walked out of the ruined house and disappeared around a corner before coming back around on her Bumblebee.

"Nice bike. My names Nadia, you?" Nadia introduced herself.

"Yang. Yang Xiao Long."

"Oh yeah, you're Ruby's sister."

"Hey she's got a prosthetic arm," Carla commented noticing the golden limb.

"Yeah, what about it?" Yang snarled.

"Hey no need to get up in _arms_ ," Carla held up her own prosthetic arm for Yang to see and gestured at her legs, "We're sisters in _arms_ you and I."

Yang laughed before responding, "Sorry I got a bit al _arm_ ed, I've had a few people with adverse reactions to it recently."

"I don't know why people have a problem with em' they're pretty _hand_ y."

"I guess some people just like to point a _finger_."

"At least they're bold about it and don't get cold _feet_."

"Though they do need to get a _grip_ on how to _hand_ le such things."

"Good one. I think we're going to get along well Yang."

"Me too. I didn't catch your name though."

"It's Carla. Carla Tan. My partner over there is Tiphany," Carla pointed over her shoulder at the green clad huntress.

"You don't have to call me your partner Carla, I'm your girlfriend now," Tiphany corrected.

"Hush, I may have been the one to ask you out but we haven't even been on that date yet so until then we're partners."

"Fine but as soon as we're on that date we're girlfriends."

"You two are cute together. So what's this mission you guys are on?" Yang asked Alton turning to him from her seat on the slow moving motorcycle.

"We're testing some military hardware for Atlas. The hardware is being tested back in the burned out half of town where our ship is landed," Alton pointed in the direction they were headed, "I can't say what kind of hardware but you might recognize it when we arrive. There are two other people with us you might recognize if I'm wrong about who built that arm it's only one. Who did build that actually?"

"Some Atlesian scientist named Geppetto. Why?"

"I was right then. He's here. He's the one that made Carla's prosthetics and the hardware we're testing."

"Neat, now I can actually thank him. You guys said you have your own ship so you're full fledged hunters then, right?"

"Technically yes. Despite never having been to an actual academy or having any sort of official documents. Wait, Alton do we have documents?" Tiphany answered Yangs query.

"Yeah we have documents, Winter gave me them last night. Our ship is called the Adder and it's less ours than Nadia's, she's our pilot."

"You guys haven't even been to an academy yet you're fully official hunters, either you're really good forgers or there's some fishy stuff going on here."

"Well we told Ruby so I guess there's no harm in telling yet another person a highly confidential Atlesian military secret. Alton you're best at explaining it," Tiphany decided.

"Well, to put it simply every Grimm we kill makes us stronger on top of the already abnormal strength we have thanks to a series of highly invasive government experiments. We are one of four teams, the others are SONC, ELMT, and GAAY. Don't ask about the last one Tiphany hacked the database and set those four op together but I guess it was for the best because all four of those guys were crushing on each other. But that's the short answer and the long answer is very scientific and full of words I can't pronounce."

"We're kickass super soldiers, secret weapons designed to destroy Grimm by the millions! Also highly perceptible to emotional trauma and psychological damage," Carla exclaimed with false optimism.

"Cool, so you're basically extra strong hunters that get stronger the more they kill. The world just gets crazier every day."

The five young hunters soon reached the ship and Yang stowed her bike in the hold. They proceeded to walk the short way to where Weiss and the doctor had set up some simple defenses for the night.

Alton opened the door and was greeted by Weiss who didn't look up from where she was attempting to hook up some mobile floodlights to a generator.

"Hey Weiss, we're back."

"Oh hey guys what took so lo-" Weiss stopped talking when she turned to see Yang coming through the slanted doorway, "Yang!" Weiss jumped onto the blonde catching her off guard with a surprisingly tight hug from the heiress.

"What? Weiss? What are you doing here?" Yang shouted in surprise.

"It's a long story. I was in Atlas, then I escaped with these four, then I ended up here in Mistral with my sister on her ship, then I was in the middle of a massive riot, then a huge battle where Ruby showed up with what's left of team JNPR, and now I'm here helping with this mission. What are you doing here is my question?"

"Oh, just chasing down bandits and beating answers out of them. I'm looking for my mom, she left for her tribe here in Mistral and I'm looking for answers."

"Hmm, well your uncle might have some answers and he's off on a mission with Ruby until tomorrow so you'd best stick with us until then. I never thought I'd say this to you Yang but I'm glad to see you again."

"Same here Ice Queen."

"I still hate that stupid nickname however. So why don't we go see how the experiment is going?" Weiss led the way up a crumbling staircase in the corner to the open roof where the majority of Geppetto's equipment was.

Outside they saw the equivalent of a rave taking place except it consisted of military grade laser weaponry and burning plasma. The amount of light emanating from Penny was almost blinding and the excessive firepower was certainly dealing with the Grimm well.

"What is that? I can hardly see it," Yang squinted through the light trying to get a better look.

"It's an old friend. Once these Grimm are dealt with I'm sure she'll be glad to reintroduce herself," Weiss answered.

With a hiss of releasing heat Penny's weapons shut down and she dropped onto the roof of the small building. Yang looked as if she had seen a ghost and in a way she had. Turning to Weiss Yang spoke one word, "Explain."

"It's Penny, duh."

"I realize it's Penny, but how? She died during the fall. Pyrrha killed her," Yang spoke in disbelief.

"Her parts were recovered and she was rebuilt better than ever. She's got top of the line hardware and she's ready to get back onto the frontlines again," Alton explained, "If you need a moment you can go downstairs."

"Yeah I'll do that."

Alton followed Yang down into the burned out building. Yang sat down next to a wall and laid her head in her hand.

"Oh come on. Not again. I don't want to go through it again," Yang muttered to herself before a sob racked her body, "I just wasn't strong enough. I couldn't beat him. And then he... he stabbed her. I didn't make it in time and this is what I get for it, a stupid metal hand. Then to add insult to injury she ran! As if I wasn't dealing with enough she left me there. Alone," Yang sighed and leaned against the wall and sobbed again.

"No. No, no, no. Don't hurt her! Blake!"

"Yang? You okay?" Alton touched Yang's shoulder.

"You son of a bitch!" Yang spun around and punched Alton in the jaw her eyes faded back to violet after realizing what she'd done, "Oh shit! I'm so sorry Alton. I don't know what came over me. Are you alright?"

Alton got his balance back after the staggering hit he's taken, "Oh yeah, I'm just great, besides the whole getting punched thing. What was that for anyways?" He rubbed the bruise that was starting to form on his cheek.

"Sorry, I got caught up in memories I guess. Flashbacks, you know?"

"Yep I've seen some bad cases of PTSD, most of them kind of my fault but that's besides the point, I know how to help. Take some deep breaths, let them out. Maybe punch something inanimate rather than the guy you just met. Kill some Grimm. Face your fears. Get over it. That usually works for the cases I've seen. Some meds could help too."

"I was taking some meds back home but I thought I was fine when I left, I guess Penny proved me wrong, eh?"

"You good now?"

Yang released a deep breath before nodding, "Yep, I'm good now. Why don't I go get reacquainted with the new and improved Penny?"

"Sure, just try not to punch anyone again, alright?" Alton laughed leading Yang back up the stone stairwell.

"Aw man, punching is my whole thing though. I'm joking. I'll try but I make no promises."

On the open roof Alton could see Tiphany had climbed the lone steeple of a long destroyed church for a vantage point from which the high pitched whine followed by a metallic thump and a flash of green could be heard and seen sporadically as she cut down Grimm from a distance keeping their location from being noticed. Penny stood next to a folding table where Geppetto was typing something into a laptop that was connected to an open port in the androids neck. Carla and Nadia stood with Weiss talking about something.

"Hey Doc, could I borrow Penny for a moment?" The doctor looked at Alton and nodded before returning to his work.

"Yang, this is Penny. Penny, this is Yang. I know you've met before but I've always wanted to introduce someone like that."

"Accessing databases," Penny zoned out for a moment before returning to full awareness, "Oh! You are Yang Xiao Long, I had to look rather hard into my archived memories from before my temporary death to find any mention of you. We were friends before, yes?"

"You could say that. You were more Ruby's friend than mine but you were always nice to her and that makes you a friend in my books."

"Yes I remember better now, we did not interact much and you were not present for my death yet you still seemed dismayed to see me again, why is that?"

"Just some memories that my brain likes to bring up to remind me of that crappy day. Mental scarring. Flashbacks."

"I believe I know what you're referring to, I too had some of these flashbacks after I was rebuilt, always reliving my last moments and all the terrible events that took place after while I was still barely conscious."

"Mostly I just remember losing my arm. Phantom pains are the worst. You've definitely changed since I last saw you. I definitely see some visual differences, you look older and you're taller, plus there's something else that I can't quite put my finger on. You've definitely had a ordinance upgrade by what I saw just now."

"Yes my arsenal has been drastically improved from what it was before as well as my flight systems having been improved but you never got to see those until now. Though the most drastic improvement in my opinion is that my aura actually functions as more of a shield now rather than just a power source. That was one of the main reasons that I failed before my aura was primarily being used for power rather than defense but now I have a secondary reactor for that."

"Sounds like you've definitely been improved. I know a bit about improving an old model as is the case with my Bumblebee, she was heavily outmatched whenever I tried to race her and I looked over the internals and half the hardware was outdated by years! So I took a little trip down to the parts shop and soon I was leaving em' in the dust."

"I've always wanted a bike. Nothing like yours though, something more off-road probably," Alton commented from where he had been watching the two catch up.

"I know a really talented mechanic in Vacuo he's the one that originally made mine before it ended up at a used car place on Patch. I sent him some letters asking about how I should refit her and he's apparently a really good custom vehicle outfitter. He's got everything from armored transports to speedboats. The one thing he won't do is airships though, he says they're too complicated."

"Maybe if I'm ever in Vacuo I can see if he can hook me up with a bike."

"I like the sound of armored transport. Personal tank anyone?" Nadia said intrigued by the conversation on vehicles.

"Yeah, he said something about working on a three axle SUV for some rich guy who ended up getting assassinated so now he's got nothing to do with it. I don't know if he's sold it since but maybe not. He mentioned that it had some real legally grey modifications on it which I can only assume he meant weapons which would make sense for some parts of Vacuo."

"I really like the sound of that. Maybe I'll have to join you when you see him Alton," Nadia pulled out her scroll and checked off something, "In other news there's an abso-fucking-lutely massive swarm of Grimm that'll be her in oh, twenty seconds? Maybe thirty. Yeah the Nevermore's will be here in a few seconds but the main swarm will be here right after so I suggest we prepare ourselves," She had barely finished speaking when the corpse of a Nevermore courtesy of Tiphany slammed into the ground with a wet slap.

"Got the formation leader! There's about fifty more where he came from though. Like shooting ducks in a pond!" Tiphany let out a squeal of glee as she aimed the rails of her weapon skyward and let loose a volley of shots each bringing down at least one of the massive corvids.

"Team ANCT combat positions! Weiss, Yang, Penny, you three just do whatever. Kill shit. I'm not picky," Alton shrugged before leaping off of the shabby tower and into the oncoming flood of Grimm that poured out of the forest.

"Now this is my kind of party! Come one Ice Queen, don't wait up," Yang jumped after Alton into the brawl that was forming on the scorched ground.

Weiss sighs before following the two hotheaded hunters. The Grimm are held back by Nadia's semblance allowing them to spread out and fully surround the temporary camp.

"Chief we're surrounded!" Carla laughed maniacally while holding an Ursa in a chokehold.

"So what? Now we can fire in any direction! Nadia let them come," Alton transformed Abbysus Ignis to its anti aircraft form that worked just as well for shredding smaller ground Grimm.

Carla transformed her great sword into its shield form and almost rode the wave of Grimm that surged forward as soon as the blue haired pilot released her semblance. A wall of dead Grimm grew in front of Alton and despite how quickly they faded it continued to grow at the rate he cut them down with the hail of bullets that came from his quad barreled LMG. Around the crumbling building similar piles of Grimm were forming where the young hunters had taken positions and not a single one that came close lived much longer after that. From her tower Tiphany was watching Carla's back as her partner waded through the hundreds of Grimm that were swarming through the ruined town. A trail of death in her wake Carla cleaved dozens of Grimm at a time with her massive blade that switched back to a shield every time a larger Grimm charged before it got its brains blown out by a well placed magnet slug. Nadia blew swathes of Grimm to pieces with rapid salvoes of rockets that definitely earned her weapon it's name. Weiss and Yang pulled their own weight and had killed their own fair share with a combination of Weiss using her glyphs to corral the Grimm before turning them to ashes with a cartridge of fire dust and Yang taking on the larger Grimm headlong and grinding them into nothing with a flurry of punches. Penny had finally finished cooling off and eager to gather more data joined the fray with her signature blades spinning around her. Grimm were slaughtered by the hundreds and it seemed the horde was thinning not even half an hour after the attack had begun.

"Something's up guys. There are pockets of Grimm that are just kind of disappearing I've got a feeling there's something more than meets the eye here," Tiphany called from her perch as she observed a creep, two beowolves, and an ursa disappear from the Grimm numbers.

"I can still sense the same amount though so whatever is happening they're still here," Nadia confirmed, "Wait there's definitely something up, I've got Grimm appearing from nowhere. It's like there's a- Alton did you bring any explosives?"

"Carla did. Why?" Alton called over his shoulder while fighting off an alpha beowolf.

"There are spawning pits in the ground here. They're most likely causing sinkholes that the Grimm are falling into and all this ruckus definitely isn't helping the rate of their production. We need to deal with those if this village is going to ever support life again."

"Understood, Carla you heard her get planting those bombs! Tiphany give her locations on those sinkholes."

"Sure thing Chief. You want immediate detonation, staggered, or simultaneous?" Carla asked holding up multiple pouches of putty explosives.

"Staggered, we don't want them all going at once and giving us one big pit beast. This way we'll just get multiple smaller ones."

"You're the boss!" Carla leapt over the Grimm that were rushing the fortified ruin to reach the first sinkhole.

In the darkness Tiphany caught glimpses of her partner near the sinkholes by the moonlight shining off her bionic limbs. Carla paused to rest on a partly intact roof directly in front of the rising moon and waved to her partner before going back to planting explosives. Tiphany turned away and shook her head trying to clear the blush that had creeped onto her face.

"That's pretty gay, Tiph," muttered Nadia from where she had climbed up next to the blonde sniper.

"Shut the fuck up."

"She's pretty cute though I don't blame you. Not really my type but I can see why you're attracted to her."

"I said shut the fuck up," Tiphany sighed and only blushed more despite her attempt to hide it by pulling up her hood.

"Don't want to talk about it? Your choice," Nadia turned back to the hordes of Grimm that seemed to have grown slightly.

A series of explosions rocked the tower and plumes of flame and rubble shot out of the sinkholes where Carla had finished planting the explosives. A second rumbling shook the ground even more and in the distance trees could be seen getting knocked over and torn from the ground.

"We've got goliaths incoming! Carla get back here now!" Tiphany cried from her vantage point above the battle.

"There're salamanders down here! They're coming out of the craters," Carla shouted from the midst of the Grimm horde.

"I fucking hate salamanders! Carla get back here you can't deal with them as exposed as you are," Alton particularly hated the reptilian Grimm because of their tendency to eat fire dust and rocks combining the two to spit molten rock as a weapon.

The herd of goliaths had broken into the clearing with a trumpeting roar adding another ingredient to the chaos. The largest goliath was borderline alpha and Carla immediately set her sights on the massive Grimm.

"I've always wanted to do this! Come on you giant bastard just slow down a bit and let me ride you," Carla ran alongside the stampeding Grimm before spring boarding off of a beowolf and onto the Grimm's face.

Using the beasts barbed tusks to steer Carla aimed up the goliath with the rest of its herd the rest of them almost miniature compared to the leader. The three smaller goliaths were skewered onto the larger ones tusks as it attempted to come to a skidding halt before slamming into a house and sending Carla careening through the air. Carla stumbled to her feet and wiped blood from a gash running down her left cheek. Glancing at her surroundings Carla spotted eight of the three dozen or so salamanders heading her way.

"Well this should be fun," Carla spat a glob of blood before drawing her sword and switching to its shield form, "Come one you fire breathing bastards! I'll roast you with your own spit!"

"Carla, get down!" Tiphany cried dropping off the slowly careening tower after it suffered a hit from a goliath.

A trio of slugs slammed into a pair of the salamanders one of them burning from the inside like a hydrogen balloon and the other combusting violently taking another with it. Tiphany muscled her way through the swelling Grimm ranks to reach her partner but was too late.

"Agh! My eyes! Damnit I'm already crippled enough, now this? I can still fight you, ya stupid scaly fucks," Carla had gotten hit in the face with a splash of molten stone from one of the salamanders who had been circling around her and burning through her shield.

"Carla hold on!" Tiphany managed to fire a wild shot taking down the last remaining salamander after Carla took out four of the remaining with a blind swing of her sword.

The last salamander had leapt at Carla before being shot and now lay smoldering in front of Carla who couldn't see the explosive Grimms corpse.

"Carla your shield, switch now!" Tiphany warned her petite partner of the impending explosion of fire a moment too late leaving Carla smoldering on the ground with her weapon a misshapen molten lump on the ground.

"Tiph, I can't see you but that's definitely your perfume. Since when do you wear butterscotch, last I smelled you preferred lavender," Carla smiled faintly through closed eyes.

"Quit talking you arrogant idiot, you'll be the death of me one of these days. I can't believe you just did something so reckless. Should've just run," Tiphany hoisted her blinded partner onto her shoulder where the smoldering huntress leaned and slowly limped toward their camp through the now thinning, once again, horde.

"Alton gimme some covering fire! Carla's wounded. It's not the worst she's had and she'll live but she can't see anything and there are sparks in her eyes, and not figurative ones either. Like literal electricity."

"That doesn't sound good, get her to the doc I'll cover you," Alton cut a path through the Grimm for the partners before covering behind them.

"Yeah that's definitely butterscotch. Seriously when did you start wearing this? It smells nice, _you_ smell nice."

"Carla quit rambling. You're hurt and talking isn't helping any. And yes it's butterscotch, I tried it out today to see if I wanted to wear it on our date," Carla smiled at Tiphany's confession despite her own condition.

"I might have to cancel on that date, I wouldn't be able to walk you there if I'm blind. Then you'd be walking me and that's just inconvenient with my clumsy ass."

"Hush. We're almost there just conserve your strength," Tiphany slammed open the door and grunted lifting Carla gently onto a table that sat in the middle of the room.

The sound of frantic footsteps came down the stairs and Geppetto appeared on the stairwell with a worried look on his face.

"What happened to her? Ah let me see, burns, many burns. Weapon melted, chunks burned into hand easy enough to remove will scar permanently despite aura. Hmm. Facial burns, no stuck on rock however, lucky. Now the eyes, damn. All that work wasted. They went and ruined the eyes. At least now I can give back what they made me take," the stout scientist waddled around the table getting a good look at the burned huntress.

"Okay, first of all what do you need to do to get the metal out of her hand, and second of all what's with the sparking eyes?" Tiphany asked confused by the doctors quick talking.

"Wonderful you don't know. Not wonderful actually terrible hindsight on Ironwoods part. Your first question is easy, I need some water and I may be able to remove the metal as it is still warm if not I can cut it out. The second one, long long answer but to put it shortly during her surgeries there was a complication with the brain alteration part and her eyes had to be fully removed as they were too big for what they needed to do, I suggested we work around it and leave her eyes but Mr. Schnee insisted we remove them and continue and merely replace them with a cybernetic replacement. Unique case of removing a Faunus trait and replacing it with a human variant but I had to do it," Tiphany held up her hands to stop his story.

"Wait, Faunus? Carla is a Faunus?"

"Why yes, the majority of the experiments were to avoid complaints of 'humaneness' from the aristocracy. She had the eyes of a hyena and rather unique at that, very sensitive and capable in low light conditions. Also able to see wider range of colors than normal eyes despite hyenas being mostly colorblind. I objected to the whole idea, destroying such a unique example of Faunus heritage but the schedule pushed on and I was forced to remove them and replace them with subpar cybernetics. I hate that dull hazel, her originals were a beautiful bright green much like her mother. Back to my diagnosis, they're completely fried. But luckily the optic nerve is still intact and functioning," Doctor Polendina paused to open Carla's eyelid and glimpse the smoking metal and circuitry within, "I have ample parts to replace them even better and closer to the originals now, my expertise has been expanded and I will make them more organic with synthesized fluids like what I used for Penny's eyes. It will take me a few hours, maybe 8 tops so they'll be done and installed by the time we have finished here. I'm sure you have other questions but they will have to wait, the Grimm grow closer and I need peace to work. Goodbye."

Tiphany groaned and walked out of the ruined building. Shifting Fulgur Mortis to its flail form she stormed through the ever weakening Grimm to the Adder that remained untouched only a few yards away from their camp. Inside Tiphany found a bucket and filled it in the sink in the kitchenette. Tiphany came back to the camp to find Geppetto running a low heat blowtorch near the metal on Carla's organic arm.

"Thank you. I had to keep it warm or it would solidify and I'd have to completely cut it out rather than get it wet and peel off the majority of it," the water steamed on contact and the metal hissed.

The biggest chunk of metal crumbled and fell off and the smaller puddles peeled away entirely leaving small chunks embedded in the skin here and there which the doctor removed easily with a pair of tweezers.

"There we are," a timer went off, "Good the program has finished loading into the chassis of the eye, you can go now I will continue my work and tell you if anything develops. Your partner will be fine," Geppetto shooed Tiphany outside and closed the door behind her.

Tiphany rejoined the fight surrounding the small structure as it began to die down the Grimm came only in small groups and sparsely.

"Hey Tiph, how's Carla doing?" Alton stepped over the fading body of a beowolf and squatted down beside the blonde huntress.

"She'll be fine but apparently her eyes aren't real and the originals were removed when she was around four during the surgeries. The doc actually helped install the previous ones and after arguing against it in the first place is now able to do the original ones justice with proper replacements, and get this, she's a Faunus too! Her eyes were her Faunus trait, she had the eyes of a hyena and they were extra sensitive even compared to normal Faunus senses. So now he's trying to recreate that with these ones," Tiphany explained the situation to her leader.

"Well that sounds wonderful. My problem is that wasn't on her medical file," Alton shrugged dismissively, "Oh check out this thing I can do with my semblance now," Alton held his hand to the ground and activated his semblance focusing it on his hand, smoke began to rise around his hand and a hissing noise could be heard underneath.

"What are you doing?"

"I can get my hand moving so fast that the heat melts the dirt underneath it into an impure glass, see look," Alton lifted his hand and pointed to the glass flakes in the ground where his hand had been, "I figured it out earlier when I was running around and left glass footprints behind. It's super cool isn't it?"

"Yeah that's awesome. I haven't really tested my semblance in a while I wonder if I can do anything new."

"Probably but it would be best to try it away from the ship so as not to crash the thing."

Tiphany laughed, "You're probably right about that. Just computer manipulation gets boring though maybe something cooler will happen."

"Maybe full immersion into the system like not just looking at the code but feeling it. Or maybe direct control as if it were part of you," Alton suggested.

"You never know with semblances they just do whatever."

"Yep. So what do you think those two are talking about?" Alton pointed toward where Yang and Weiss were speaking in hushed tones on a pile of rubble.

"I don't know. Probably whatever happened before they got split up. There's definitely issues with their team especially as far as the terms of their separation is concerned. I definitely don't want to be anywhere near Yang when her partner gets back, well _if_ she comes back."

"I've got faith in this Blake chick, she doesn't sound like the kind of girl to never come back especially something she's invested so much time and emotion into," Alton had heard little of the third member of team RWBY but he knew there was something more to her and her partner, Yang.

* * *

"Yang what time is it?"

"Hmm? Oh it's like five in the morning. Didn't realize the time had passed so quickly," the blonde brawler had briefly fallen asleep against a stone fence where they had sat to rest.

"Yeah. I'm still happy to see you Yang. It's been what? Two months? Three months? Somewhere in that range but I somehow came to miss you, Ruby, and even Blake."

"Don't talk about her. She doesn't deserve to be missed. She left us! She left me," Yang stared at her prosthetic forlornly.

"But you know what she did first? She made sure you were okay. I saw her. I was the last one to see her before she disappeared and she was right there next to you after Adam did that. The very last thing she said before she left was 'I'm sorry' Do you think she would have said that if she wanted to leave? Do you?"

"Why else would she leave?"

"Because she was afraid Yang. She was afraid of what might happen to you if she stayed. I saw it in her eyes. She was anything if not well thought out and she planned out everything she did right then. She looked back once before leaving same as I did. She looked to you. Not me. Not Ruby. You. She's coming back. Not now. But eventually. She'll figure it out on her own but you, you need to learn how to forgive her when she does."

"If she's so right then she doesn't need forgiveness. I needed her, don't you understand that Weiss?"

"Yes I do, more than anyone. I was trapped in a mindset my father had molded into me and I needed a kind soul to break it. I needed a good leader, someone who was pure and good. I needed your sister. And she came through, all I needed to do was forgive and let her do the rest and that's when I realized my place, on our team and in this life. You need to do what I did. You need Blake and when she gets here you need to forgive her and let her break you out of your stupid, self deprecating, self destructive mindset and bring back the silly, happy Yang from initiation," Weiss placed her hand on Yangs shoulder which Yang looked at apprehensively before speaking.

"I get what you're saying. I see where you're coming from but that's not at all how I feel and it's not at all how things will happen. Blake abandoned me. Ruby didn't leave you. I thought that Blake was my partner, my best friend, but I guess I was wrong because at my lowest and most vulnerable point she ran. She ran and she left me just like my mom. She'll never come back, not voluntarily anyways and even if she does I still won't forgive her, not in a million years," Weiss sighed at Yangs words but continued.

"Listen Yang, whether you like it or not you and Blake are partners and you'll have to forgive her eventually if you want to live a guilt free life. Trust me that stuff will weigh you down until you manage to work up the strength to throw it off your chest. Sometimes you need a little help, and knowing Blake she'll need help too because she's going through the same thing I'd bet."

"You don't give in do you? Let's just agree to disagree and whatever happens, happens."

"Agreed."

* * *

Nadia had found a spot to nap uninterrupted aboard the Adder in the roof mounted flak gun, the bubble window giving her a perfect amount of morning sunlight to keep her warm. Stretching out in the worn leather seat Nadia lounged before a loud clanking awakened her. Down through the rafters the ramp could be seen lowering to allow the rest of her team and their guests stepping aboard.

"Yeah this is a really nice ship. Custom I'd wager by the lack of official markings or serial number plus the absolute mashup of technology. D'you think Nadia would let me fly it sometime?" Yang asked.

"I don't know why don't you ask her? Hey Fangs, Yang wants to know if she can fly the Adder sometime," Nadia groaned at the nickname Alton used to call her when her fangs had first come in when they were six.

"I don't know, _can_ she?"

"Can you?"

"Yeah I can fly an airship, I've flown bullheads and some smaller cargo craft, it can't be that much different."

"Good enough, scratch the paint though and I _will_ end you Blondie," Nadia hooked her bare feet into the top rung of the ladder and stretched upside down hanging there for a few moments before dropping gracefully to the floor.

"Carla how are you doing?" Tiphany asked Carla who had a cloth wrapped around her recently installed eyes.

"Well there's a tingly feeling in my head that wasn't there before but I'm getting used to it. Besides that it's not really dark but more, um, the absence of any ability to discern if I can see at all. Also these burns are tender but that's not a major concern," Carla gently felt at where her eyes were beneath the cloth.

"Tell me when you hear a click or feel a small shock. If you start compulsively crying like when chopping onions is another good sign that it's worked. Once any of those happen we can take off the cloth and test out those new eyes. I'm rather proud of them and from memory I believe I've replicated the originals perfectly as far as looks. This is probably my best work ever, maybe second to that time I sewed a trainee artillery loaders thumb back on and it started working again after his aura kicked in," Geppetto chuckled at the memory of his wartime accomplishments.

"That is both disgusting and intriguing," Weiss commented.

"I'm inclined to agree with Weiss here," Alton called from the kitchenette where he was making rather simple omelets for everyone.

"If only my limbs had survived that explosion maybe they could've just sewn them back on and I'd be fine," Carla muttered wistfully.

"I feel you girl, I feel you," Yang pat Carla on the back.

Geppetto laughed, "Sadly it would not work with either of you as Carla, your limbs were completely destroyed, absolutely shredded like Swiss cheese. And Yang, your arm was severed with Adam Taurus's Moonslice semblance completely severing your auras connection with it. Such a procedure wouldn't work for either of your cases, but if day I were to hack of one of Mr. Goldenrods fingers or limbs and sew it back on and give it proper medical attention then it would probably reattach itself."

"Ouch! That'll be the shock, doctor," Carla shouted in pain.

"Oh there's a bit of smoke, that should not happen. Do you smell hazelnuts?"

"No I don't, just burnt skin."

"That is good, it means you don't have gangrene and that was only a pocket of smoke beneath the skin from your burns, nothing serious or even worth treating. Now let me remove this blindfold but don't open your eyes just yet," Dr. Polendina fumbled with the knot for a moment before pulling it off and standing back.

Carla sat there with her eyes closed and her eyelids and the skin around her eyes looking like a starburst of white on a caramel canvas with how the burns and scars were shaped. Her eyes could be seen flickering about beneath her eyelids causing the scar patterns to ripple. Tiphany stared at her partner intent on how she would react to the new eyes which no one except the doctor had seen so far.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes, go ahead."

Carla slowly opened her eyes earning a gasp from Tiphany at the sight of the slightly wider than normal eyes the majority of which was taken up by a bright green mixed with yellow and a thin band of white around the edge. The pitch black pupil dilated and went from perfect black orb to thin line of black through the middle of the eye as an innate reaction to the sudden bright light.

"How do I look?" Carla asked calmly.

"See for yourself," Geppetto held up a mirror in front of the young cyborg.

Carla looked at herself from many angles before looking straight into her own eyes with a look that bordered between confusion and recognition, "They're beautiful, they just feel right, the way I see with them, all the colors are more crisp and clear. It's like I've seen them before somewhere too."

"You have. Your own mother, your original eyes were so much like hers and I based these off the originals."

"Thank you. Is there anything else besides being able to see they can do?"

"I'm glad you asked because there is. If you check your scroll on your arm there should be three different colored buttons, the red does infrared vision, the green does night vision which you would have had naturally, the black one overlays a HUD which highlights allies in green and known enemies in red with unknown targets in grey as well as marking the aura of anyone with a scroll in our network. Penny has something similar and uses it in most combat situations and finds it extremely useful. There's also a compass to point out whatever objective you have currently. You can change and modify this heads up display however you like if you wish."

Carla pressed each button in turn and marveled at the results, "Hmm that's strange, I can't seem to see Weiss with the infrared," Weiss only glared at Carla's joke, "But besides that these are awesome and I hope that they don't get messed up. Tiphany what do you think of them?"

Tiphany glanced away and then looked back at Carla's wide eyes that stared at her intently, "Well, uhm, they're very pretty. They're very useful too."

"Thanks Tiph," Carla's eyes went wide for a moment before she began to cry. "I just realized, my sword got destroyed. Oh my beautiful, wonderfully sharp sword! What will I do without a weapon? I'm useless now!"

"There, there. We can go shopping for parts to make you a new weapon even better than Fidellis Bellator," Alton reassured her.

"Better? Than Fidellis Bellator? Fat chance. But it's a chance I'm willing to take because there's no way I'll be able to make it again mostly because I built it in one sitting and completely forgot to make schematics."

"I suggest adding some range this time but still something suiting of your style," Nadia suggested from her perch in the flak gun.

"Like a shotgun!" Yang chimed in brandishing Ember Celica.

"That could work, and since my whole fighting style has changed with these new legs I'll need to stay more mobile so no shield this time. Okay maybe shield but a small shield. I'm liking the look of a cleaver for this too. Yeah we need to go parts shopping after Tiphany and I have our date. How's Thursday sound to y'all?"

There were no objections from the other three who would be going.

"Are we done with this trash heap of a town?" Nadia asked from her perch.

"Yes our mission is done. You all will receive payment from the villages inhabitants by tomorrow. Ms. Xiao Long I believe you're flying us home?"

"Yep that's right!"

"I don't trust her I'm getting in the copilot seat to make sure nothing goes wrong with my baby," Nadia patted the hull of her ship lovingly.

"Speaking of your 'baby' do you think Yang should put her emblem with mine on the nose?" Weiss asked Nadia.

"Yeah, sure, why not? Ask Ruby if she wants to add hers too."

"Already planning on it."

"Now let's blow this pop stand!" Yang exclaimed while hopping into the pilots seat.

The Adder took off into the orange morning sky leaving a reclaimed village in its wake.

 **Authors notes:**

Penny's packing some serious heat. Literally.

Yang is shook. This random guy shows up right after a fight and knows who she is? I'd be surprised too.

Company is always welcome in the dangerous wilds of Remnant.

Yang and Carla are already friends because of puns. Let that sink in.

Weiss "don't touch me" Schnee

Seeing someone you're sure died and apparently did but came back has got to bring back some bad memories.

Alton got fucking rekt.

"Just try not to punch anything"

*wink wonk*

This isn't your average few dozen beowolves Grimm pack this is a horde of tens of thousands that have been stalking the area for weeks.

Secret Grimm hole! Secret Grimm hole! In the ground! Secret secret secret secret Grimm hole!

Tiphany has the super gay and Nadia teasing isn't helping.

Zero to a hundred real quick.

Riding a goliath, I totally didn't get that from some other fic *cough* Downward Spiral *cough*

Carla your pyromaniac is showing.

Wait no! Not like that!

Sick burn.

The big reveal! Carla is a Faunus too. Her trait was surgically removed however. But now she's getting it back. Kind of.

Oh man this night is lasting a long time, aaand it's dawn.

Cool semblance upgrades because they just keep getting stronger.

Weiss is the biggest bees supporter and won't rest until her otp happens.

Fucking emotions.

Nadia, master of awkward sleeping positions.

Yang can fly an airship in canon, Thanks Grimm Eclipse.

Thanks for reading! As always special thanks to those who follow, favorite, and review!


	11. A Day Out and the Day After

"That has got to be the absolute worst landing in the history of ever."

"Never was good at landing. But I didn't scratch the paint so that's good right?" Yang suggested optimistically to an extremely miffed Nadia.

"You almost took a mechanics head off!"

"Hey they were standing in an active landing zone. Plus they weren't even wearing a helmet! That's a safety hazard."

"Yang, you're a safety hazard," Weiss cut in from where she was helping unload Geppetto's equipment.

"You're damn right I am! I plan to stay that way too, can't go ruining my reputation, ya know?"

"Yeah, we know. Nadia can you make sure she _never_ flies the Adder again?" Alton pleaded from his position assisting Weiss.

"I sure fucking will. Why don't you find Ruby I'm sure she's back here by now. Oum knows Qrow definitely wanted to come back, he was staring at Winter like she was a five star, three course meal."

"That's Uncle Qrow for you. Though I have no idea what he sees in your sister Weiss, she's so stuck up. Almost like you when we first met," Yang leaned over and jabbed Weiss in the ribs jokingly.

"I still can't believe I somehow missed your insufferable jokes or you in general. You are an absolute pain Xiao Long."

"Well I can _Schnee_ why you'd stick up for your big sister yet I still don't know why you don't like my jokes."

"Possibly because they're crude and tasteless."

"Well I may not have your refined taste Weiss but at least I know a good pun when I hear it."

"Yeah!" Carla slid over and high fived Yang before running back to restocking what ammo had been expended from the Adder's stores.

"Absolutely ridiculous, I don't know how I stood you at Beacon!"

"Probably because I was there to keep the peace! Look at you two bickering like little kids! I leave for one day and you go and somehow run into each other and now you're arguing again. I won't stand for it. Weiss apologize, you know you tend to be a bit harsh. Yang you too, you tease her too much," Ruby had shown up in the hangar and began sternly berating her unruly teammates.

"Rubes! How was trekking across Anima on foot?" Yang pulled her half sister into a crushing hug.

"Ack! Too tight!" Yang released her grip, "Phew. It was terrible. Grimm absolutely everywhere. Then we met this weird dude named Tyrian and he tried to kidnap me then Uncle Qrow showed up then he got stabbed and then I chopped of the weird guys tail and he ran off but Qrow was poisoned from the sting and we had to get him here fast so we split up. Jaune and I went the easier, longer route and Ren and Nora went through the mountains then we met up again in Ren's old village and fought this crazy looking Grimm before an airship showed up and got us here. All in all it was exhausting," Ruby ran through the journey that RNJR had gone on.

"Wow sounds rough but you pulled through and I'm proud of you sis," Yang stretched and yawned before pulling the red reaper into another hug, "Oh, I'm so happy to see you again! I'm tired though, I've been traveling for almost three days straight with no rest counting last night which was definitely more eventful and tiring. I deserve some rest, so what do you guys say we all hit the hay and get a bit more well acquainted once we've rested up?

"Yang it's ten in the morning, I woke up three hours ago. You can take a nap if you'd like but I'm just getting the day started! The rest of you can nap too but I want to hear about your mission if you get the chance, it was definitely more eventful than ours. We got called out for a supposed 'infestation' that was actually four beowolves and an ursa. So long story short we got paid the agreed amount for significantly less work and excitement."

"Sounds like you're actually disappointed that you didn't fight any Grimm, I for one will be glad to never see another salamander in my life," Carla groaned as she lugged a large crate towards where the doctor was waiting for his luggage, strangely enough Penny was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened to you? You've got some new scars and some burns too by the look of your eyes and hand," Ruby said taking notice of Carla's new battle wounds.

"Yep, I got a face full of molten rock and my weapon got turned to scrap too! Also turns out I'm a Faunus and my eyes were my trait before Weiss's asshole of a dad decided they should be removed for one of the experimental surgeries. But now that the old replacements are trashed I got some new ones that mimic the originals, see?" Carla bent down and opened her eyes wide for the speedster to see.

"Wow, they look so realistic. Also slightly disturbing but that's just because they're big."

"They've got a built in hud, night vision, and even infrared."

"That sounds useful. I wish I had robot eyes but that would kind of take away from the whole silver eyes power."

"Trust me it's not so great as it seems, and with the infrared I can't even see Weiss."

"It wasn't funny the first time!" Weiss's complaints went unheard over the sound of laughter as literally everybody except her found it funny.

"Oh come one Weiss you've got to admit that was pretty good."

Weiss sighed and cracked a small smile, "I guess it was a bit funny, just don't tell it again."

"Oh, I can see you now! You're starting to warm up," Carla teased.

"You're just as bad as Yang."

The group of young hunters made their way out of the hangar before Weiss stopped everyone.

"Nadia you forgot about letting Yang out her emblem on the nose with everyone else's."

"Oh yeah, I remember now. Sure, why not? Might as well let Ruby do it too while you're at it," Nadia shrugged and pointed to where an airbrush was laying near the Adder.

"Thanks Nadia, sorry about that landing earlier," Yang walked back and quickly sprayed her emblem next to Weiss's leaving a space in between them and Ruby put hers on the other side.

"There! That was cool. Kind of like signing an autograph," Ruby mused while shaking in excitement.

"Well we've got almost everyone's emblem now, maybe we could put the rest of RNJR's on there later."

"Now don't get carried away Weiss it's still my ship, I make the decisions. I'd be fine with it though, your teammate Blake's too whenever we meet her," Nadia suggested.

"That'd be cool, we'd have three whole, well almost whole, teams of emblems," Ruby smiled at the idea.

"You mean _if_ we see Blake again. Who ever said she was coming back," Yang snarled.

Weiss punched Yang in the shoulder hard, "You idiot, you really don't get it do you? She's your partner, she's coming back, it's just a matter of time and circumstance. She doesn't even know you're here, you could be in Vacuo for all she knows! What I'm trying to say is you don't know what she thinks and you have no right to assume she doesn't plan on returning, we're her team, her family. She's coming back."

"No, you don't get it. She left me when I needed her and if that doesn't spell it out in plain enough terms I don't know what will, she's just like my mom."

"Your mom was raised by bandits and has little to no morals if she's anything like her brother, Blake is a passionate person who fights for those she cares about no matter the consequences. There's a big difference between them and unlike your mom Blake will come back to you herself."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Ah, heheh, yeah. So why don't we go into town for some, uh, team bonding?" Ruby suggested standing nervously between the two girls.

"I'm down for going into town, could use some parts for a new weapon, you know?" Carla agreed.

"Yeah I need some materials for an outfit I've been working on, there's someone who's enlisted my help in making a new combat outfit," Tiphany added.

"We've all got reasons to go into town plus we actually haven't met your uncle yet," Alton turned around and walked back towards the Adder, "If we're gonna go let's go."

Nadia shrugged and followed behind her leader and waved the rest to follow.

"So where to first?" Nadia asked once everyone was aboard.

"Let's just go to some shops first, buy what we do and don't need with the payment from that mission instead of Weiss's dad and then we can just do whatever; go get some lunch, meet Qrow, whatever," Alton answered to everyone else's agreement.

The engines spun up smoothly and the seven hunters were on their way to the ground from the Tödlich Flüstern.

* * *

Thousands of miles south in Menagerie a deal was taking place.

"We definitely owe you both the ship and our lives, I'd be glad to take this group of yours to Mistral for almost no price besides the cost of fuel and provisions. We'll be in your debt forever after you helped with that Grimm a month ago," the grey haired captain of the Pride was looking at a map of Remnant and a course plotted from their location in Menagerie to the busy ports of Mistral.

"Thank you. We only have about forty to fifty people so you should be able to take on normal passengers and cargo to make a profit off of it," Blake suggested, "And consider your debt paid after this."

"Of course. Now this trip may take a while if you wish to avoid vulnerable pirate routes but from what you've told me about the manner of your trip time is of the essence so we will have to travel those routes but with hunters and your fighters aboard we shouldn't have to worry too much. Except maybe about those Atlesian pirates; word is they've got submarines."

"They shouldn't be a problem, so far they haven't gone any further south than the opening to the Scarlet sea and that area is heavily patrolled by Mistrals law enforcement. The biggest issue will be Grimm especially when we pass Vale. I suggest we stay away from the coast then but it will make the rest of the trip easier by avoiding the turn along the coast to reach the channel."

"You know your sailing, that's the best option for the route we've planned. Now the final issue is when you plan on embarking on this voyage with this group of yours."

"Tomorrow, after we announce our plans to the public or at least our groups goals. We're going fully public with most of this as far as we can. I don't want to end up like the White Fang, always hiding in the shadows and attacking to earn fear. We will gain trust and respect by working with humans for a common goal."

"My wife is Faunus and there was almost a small riot when we gave our oaths, I'm sympathetic to your cause and wish you the best of luck. What is this group of yours called by the way, a force of change needs a good name."

"We're called the Pack. It symbolizes our focus on unity and prosperity for all, not just the Faunus."

"A noble cause and one I will support wherever my own task takes me. I'm sure my crew will be behind you completely as well."

"Thank you for your support. I'm sorry to cut our meeting short but I have matters to attend to and I'm sure you are plenty busy as well. Until tomorrow."

"I understand, a young visionary must be very busy. Until tomorrow."

With their farewells said Blake exited the captains office into the corridors of the Pride. Across the hall Sun was leaning against the wall looking bored out of his mind.

"It went well?"

"As can be expected. Where's Ilia, she was with you wasn't she?"

"She's outside talking with the first mate, something about being old friends or something," Sun shrugged and led the way to a door leading onto the deck of the ship.

"Oh, hey Blake. I was just catching up with Matte here, we knew each other way back in Atlas."

"Knew each other? We talked a few times but that was about it. I definitely remember you punching that girl in the face though. I hated her, always teasing others and putting people down over their differences. She had an issue with me the next year after you left when I came out as nonbinary," the freckled sailor admitted.

"It was nice catching up and I'm glad you'll be with us for this trip, you're probably the only person I didn't hate at that retched school. See you tomorrow," Ilia called to her friend before walking away with Blake to the boarding ramp.

"They're pretty cute, don't ya think Ilia?" Sun teased noticing the blush creeping across the lizard girls face.

Ilia turned bright red, "I'm not afraid to stab you again asshole! And besides I'm sure they don't like me the same way."

"Chin up Ilia, I'm sure you'll find someone eventually."

"Who? Who could like _me_? Me, the hideous looking chameleon Faunus that can't even keep a constant color."

"I've known some people with weird enough tastes, hell one of my teammates is just into nice hair and thats like the only qualifying factor as far as looks. Seriously you'll find someone," Blake laughed at Sun's statement.

"Are you talking about Scarlet? I swear if anything he's into tall with muscles by the way he looked at Sage after that tournament match!"

"I didn't notice, my teammates romantic partners aren't really an issue for me except Neptune but mostly because his flirting always gets us in trouble. We got detention for the whole team because he accidentally flirted with a teacher he thought was a second year student!" both Ilia and Blake burst out laughing trying to imagine the blue haired hunter getting into such a situation.

"Did he at least get with the teacher for his troubles?"

"Nope, he actually got extra homework for a week, I'm pretty sure she might have been married," Blake laughed even more.

"We definitely need to ask Neptune once we get to Haven. And speaking of Neptune and your team once we get there you can stay with them and stop following me around and making my dad angry, he really doesn't like you."

"But your mom does."

"She just likes funny people with abs, that's why her and dad got together in the first place."

"Oh. He doesn't seem that funny."

"He likes puns."

"That... That makes sense actually."

"Exactly, now can we get home before noon, I'm rather looking forward to having tuna for lunch."

"Do you think you have any mangoes, I've been craving some."

"I'm sure we have some Ilia."

"Nice."

* * *

"Yang pass the salt!" Ruby's request was met with the sound of a small rocket as Yang's arm flew across the table clutching a salt shaker.

"You two are so childish," Weiss shook her head and continued eating her salad delicately.

"Weiss you're supposed to be childish here, it's an ice cream parlor and instead of normal ice cream parlor food like a burger or a hotdog with fries you chose a salad of all things! At least get some ice cream, jeez," Ruby chided.

"Give me one good reason to eat something so unhealthy."

"It's sweet and deliciously cold. Plus they've got like a hundred flavors here!"

"You've convinced me. Do you think they have strawberry sherbert?" Weiss's question was answered by a menu that was slid across the table by Alton who was enjoying half a pizza by himself.

"Alton I swear to Oum I'm going to finish my half of this pizza first!" Carla shouted in outrage as her leader started on his last slice while she still had two to go.

Alton let out a sigh of content as he finished his last slice to Carla's dismay, "Sorry, I guess I'm just too fast."

"That's not always a good thing," Nadia whispered looking up from her blueberry milkshake.

Yang snorted in response to Nadia's retort, "Oh snap! That was cold Nadia. Even for me that might have been a bit mean."

"I didn't mean anything particular by it, if anything I know best that he's the opposite of fast in a situation like that," at this everyone burst out laughing except Ruby who only looked on in confusion and Weiss who just looked miserable.

"Ooh, tell me all about it. What happened, when did it happen, where?" Tiphany insisted.

"Nadia you'd better not say a word or I'm telling them about your secret!" Alton hissed.

Nadia considered for a moment before speaking, "Ah, fuck it I don't care it's too funny to not share. I caught him jacking off about a year or two ago and he must have been at it for like three maybe four hours."

Another round of laughter met with more confusion from Ruby and sympathetic looks from Weiss, "Well I found you curled up against me last winter because you were too afraid to admit there was a dust accident and you burned through your electric blanket but then you got cold."

"That was a matter of life or death, I could have frozen!"

"That may be true but out of the entire team you chose me, probably the least comfortable person to snuggle with."

"Would you two kiss already!" Tiphany joked from across the table.

"No!" The two partners shouted as one.

"Man your team is just a mess isn't it? I'm glad team RWBY isn't like that," Yang chuckled.

"Really? Whatever you want to think, I'll just say you're wrong and let you figure it out eventually," Weiss corrected.

"If that's about the time I tied a cherry stem with my tongue that was a joke, okay?"

"Sure, whatever you say."

"Hey kiddos, you finishing up? I've got a meeting with Leo in a few minutes and I don't trust leaving you all alone here so I suggest you go to the house where at least any damage you cause will be tax deductible," Qrow had walked into the small shop that was empty besides the seven hunters at the large circular booth.

"Sure thing Qrow, I'll make sure Carla doesn't burn anything," Tiphany joked.

"I could care less really. Just don't mess with any of my stuff and don't kill anyone and there won't be any problems, got it you four? I don't care about those three, but you four are Atlesian and I don't exactly trust you," Qrow pointed from RW_Y to team ANCT.

"Yessir. I'm sure you can count on the Atlesian secret weapons not to cause too much damage," Carla said sarcastically.

"How old are you four anyways, you look like third year students or something," the veteran hunter squinted at the four teens.

"Carla's the youngest at seventeen, us three are eighteen. You seriously thought we were older? Must be the genetic enhancements," Nadia corrected him.

"Great, foiled again by Atlesian engineering. I honestly thought Winter was younger than she was when I first met her a few years ago. Eh, age never really gives me room to judge I mean the Arc kid is mourning the death of his first and only girlfriend and he's not even eighteen and I guess you four are probably more mature than he is so I can trust you for now. You end up getting my nieces in trouble however and then there's gonna be a problem. Got it?"

"Sure thing. Now run along we can handle ourselves, I mean seven hunters, four with military training and the others with plenty of experience should be able to handle the city of Mistral without a chaperone."

"I don't doubt it but what I do doubt is your ability to avoid collateral damage in case of any issues. I will leave now but seriously no funny business," Qrow turned away and left the amateur hunters to their own devices.

"Now what do we do?" Carla asked before sneaking another sip of Tiphany's drink.

Tiphany shooed Carla away before answering, "We still need to get those materials for your new weapon whatever it may be and the outfit I'm working on."

"You never said who you were making it for and since when are you confident enough in your sewing skills to make someone else an outfit? Last time you tried you ended up with reverse parachute pants."

"Look that was just a miscalculation of material length and this time I've actually got everything planned out exactly not to mention I've gotten way better since then," Tiphany pulled out her scroll and swiped through a list of cloth in different sizes along with some armor pieces.

"Is that an armored skirt?" Nadia asked looking over Alton's shoulder.

"Yeah, not only does it have normal ballistic plates but there's scale mail too, some new stuff from the RD department back in Atlas."

"Sounds cool."

"Well whoever you're making it for is obviously copying mine and Ruby's style, that's definitely a combat skirt," Weiss said pointing out similarities between her and her partners outfits with the proposed one on Tiphany's scroll.

"Well you know them and they wanted something similar to what they had before."

"You mean- oh. I know who you're talking about."

"Wait who else do we know who wears a combat- oh, okay yeah," Yang nodded towards Ruby and pulled her fingers across her lips like a zipper.

Alton nodded in return to Yangs gesture and put his index finger over his closed lips.

"It definitely suits them. I wouldn't wear it but I can see it fitting their style and functionality. If you need any help just ask me, I have some experience with designing clothes," Weiss offered the blonde sniper.

"I'm sure I won't need it but thanks anyways."

"So to the general goods store? There was a shop that had a bunch of basic huntsman supplies including what you two are lookin for and some stuff I wanted too," Alton said and pointed in the direction of the shop down the road.

"Yep, sounds good. I could restock on some stuff too, haven't had the chance since we got here," Yang added.

"Same here. We've just been so busy with missions, there's so many people having Grimm issues lately," Ruby noted.

"Yeah we must've killed almost a hundred thousand last night. There're a lot more of 'em than usual especially close to Mistral itself, it's like they don't even care about the defenses," Alton agreed.

"Somethings up that's for sure but we won't find anything out in this ice cream shop so let's just go buy what we need and get on with our lives, something's bound to turn up eventually," Nadia shrugged and chugged the last of her milkshake then put down enough lien to cover the meal and a large tip.

"Alton! Which of these metals should I use? I don't know enough about metalworking to decide. I know these two are my best options for what I'm marking but which is better?" Carla stood in front of two pallets stacked high with ingots of two similar looking metal alloys.

Alton walked over from the other side of the shop which held a strange assortment of goods specifically catering to hunters, "Well this kind here is really lightweight and strong but it's not very good at holding an edge so it would be best for a large, thick, dull blade. This other one weighs more but holds a great edge when layered well even though that's the only way it won't be super brittle, it would be best for a long, thin, slicing blade; like a katana."

"Well I'm going for some rather large machetes so I think the first would be best, maybe."

"Yeah that would work well if it's going to be a particularly large machete. If you think it's right then use it."

"Alright! I've just got to get the gun parts next or maybe you could help me make those?"

"You're absolutely pitiful when it comes to custom machining so I'd rather do it for you than have your face blown off accidentally."

"Aw yes. Trust me you're goin to love the design I have in mind. I've already got most of it planned out the inner workings are the only issue and I've got you for that now," Carla pumped her fists enthusiastically before picking up a few large ingots of the metal she'd chosen.

"Just ask me when you've got some free time and we'll get to work on it, okay?"

"Sure. I'll probably be busy for the next day or two anyways so just try not to get roped into anything around then."

"Yeah I'm not into ropes anyways, I like ribbons better," Tiphany snorted from the other side of the shop at Alton's joke.

"Dude that's kinky, I didn't know you liked bondage."

"With a semblance that increases speed when I'm hit it was _bound_ to happen."

"Boo!" Tiphany called from where she was browsing the shelves.

"No, not 'boo'. Make more puns!" Yang encouraged from where she was perusing the stocks as well.

"I would but I'm rather _tied up_ at the moment," Alton pointed finger guns at Yang and Carla who cheered.

"Nadia take notes," Tiphany whispered to the snake Faunus who had been listening to the exchange.

"Go fuck yourself," Nadia casually flipped of her blonde teammate.

"But there are so many other candidates besides myself, like Carla."

"All of you, one: that's gross, two: there are children present," Weiss pointed at Ruby while groaning at the puns and dirty jokes.

"I don't get exactly what's happening but I know it's similar to Blake's books," Weiss gasped at Ruby's comment.

"Did you read that _filth_?"

"It's not exactly filth but that's probably because I didn't get it but I did read some of it, I was on page fifty," Weiss gasped in horror at Ruby's confession.

"Never ever touch those books again! They're disgusting and absolutely degenerate. If you're going to read something read something with taste."

Yang leaned over and whispered in Ruby's ear and her little sisters face went bright red.

"Yang! That's gross. Why'd you have to tell me? You could have let me remain innocent but that innocence is now spoiled because of you! You're just as bad as Blake."

"Yang! What did I just say?" Weiss almost screeched at Yang who backed away from the angry heiress.

"Nah, calm down Weiss. I knew about all that stuff already, but that book had some seriously niche stuff, the plot's not bad though," Ruby admitted.

"Ruby! You're both disgusting," Weiss huffed and turned away from the sisters who were in a laughing fit now, Nadia glanced from a engineering magazine to see what the commotion was about and saw Weiss trying to hide a slight blush creeping across her pale face.

"Is everyone done picking stuff out so we can head back to the ship?" Tiphany asked holding up a bag of things she'd selected from the wide array of merchandise.

"Yep, I've got this nice bomber jacket like you suggested, some standard attachments for that pistol I kept after the battle with the Fang, a bag of jerky, this magazine, and some other stuff for the Adder," Nadia listed.

"I've got all my materials, some metal detailing kits, a cute bobblehead of a beowolf, and a badass looking choker," Carla showed off a choker that had a clasp resembling entwining claws.

"Ooh I like that choker. I've just got some materials for my project including some sick looking nano-mail, a few snacks, and some uh, miscellaneous things," Tiphany looked around nervously avoiding Carla's gaze specifically.

"O-kay then, I've got some sweet looking goggles for when I use my semblance and that's it," Alton slipped the orange tinted goggles over his messy hair and left them on his forehead for easy access.

"I got a guide to local Grimm variants plus a can of paint to touch up Crescent Rose as she's been looking a bit scuffed up lately, interestingly enough did you guys know there is a type of salamander for each dust type and are found where they're each most common and even a few cross breeds in some places such as a gravity-fire salamander that spits firebombs that'll blow a hole in tier three Atlesian armor plates," Ruby noted.

"Can we just stay the fuck away from wherever they are because that is a big no-no for me," Alton shook his head.

"Well those ones are really rare and are only found near the Fire Gulf," Ruby pointed to a map on the page.

"Oh that's great, that's where the Branwen tribe is, I have to go there if I'm gonna find my mom," Yang lamented.

"Rest in peace Yang Xiao Long, we've only just met and it saddens me to see you go so soon," Tiphany mock swooned into Carla who caught her but only barely.

"Tiph, I love 'em but your boobs really weigh you down," Carla groaned under the weight of her partner.

"I don't know whether to feel insulted or not."

"It was a compliment, trust me. Now could you stand up, please?"

"Magic words?"

"I just said please."

"Wrong magic words sweetheart."

"Forget this," Carla released the busty blonde who fell to the floor in a graceless heap.

"And with that our time here is up, let's pay for all this crap and go!" Alton claimed as he walked to the counter and paid for his purchase and the rest followed suit.

Outside the sun was setting and the sky was changing from a dull orange to a deep purple, stars beginning to show despite the light pollution of the massive Cloud district nearby.

"Damn, it's getting late. We should probably head back to the ship," Alton suggested.

"Weiss, do you want to stay with me and Yang at the house Uncle Qrow's been renting since we got here?" Ruby asked.

"Why not? Alton explain to Winter where I am or she'll throw a fit. This will be a good time to catch up a bit better," Weiss grinned at her teammates.

"In that case I'll come and pick you up when I drop these two off on their date tomorrow," Nadia pointed at Carla and Tiphany who both glared at her for bringing it up.

"That sounds alright to me. Just call me before you get down here."

"Sure thing Weiss. Now come on you three, I'm getting tired and after that mission last night we could all use the rest."

"But I wanted to get a drink," Alton pleaded.

"Nope, last time we drank Carla got blown up."

"Correlation, not causation! And besides we don't know how alcohol will affect my limbs yet so best to avoid it against my lesser judgement," Carla pointed out.

"Exactly, no drinks tonight. Back to the ship. You too Tiph."

"Fine, I wasn't planning on drinking though, just a bit of sightseeing."

"And by sights you mean my ass? Don't think I can't see you staring," Carla winked at her usually forward partner who flushed bright red.

"Whatever, let's just get back to the ship."

* * *

 _"Beep, beep, beep!"_

"Fuck it's too early for this," Alton groaned pulling his shirt on from where he'd left it beside his bed.

The alarm clocks bright screen read four in the morning. Glancing to the side Alton saw his partner slumped halfway out of her bed and shirtless, face-down on the floor.

"Come on Nadia get up. I know you're awake," he nudged her shoulder with his foot getting a giggle out of the snake Faunus, "Put a shirt on while you're at it."

"Sure, whatever you say Chief. You'd rather I didn't but you tell me to put one on anyways."

"We've got morning lookout duty. That means we're going out on the rigging. The bottom rigging. Not topside but underside. Where it's cold as hell and wetter than Tiphany when she sees Carla in her training gear."

"That's a good one, just don't let her catch you saying that," Nadia struggled to her feet and yawned showing off her long fangs, "Why'd we have to get dawn of all times? Why couldn't it be noon?"

"Because we have plans later today, like dropping off those lovebirds," Alton looked at the beds of the huntresses in question to find them empty, "And they're gone."

"The fuck do you mean they're- oh. Why would either of them be awake at this hour. Carla can barely wake up at seven much less four."

The door slid open then revealing Cream standing outside framed by the light in the hall. The mute pilot signed some words that Nadia couldn't decipher from only a silhouette.

"What was that? I didn't see what you said."

Cream shook her head and typed a few sentences into the text to speech app on her scroll, "I dropped the other two off at like eleven last night, they asked for a ride, said something about getting a hotel for the night."

"They just couldn't wait could they? It's less work for me so I don't mind. Thanks for the update Cream," Nadia gave a casual salute to her friend who saluted back before leaving.

The wind howled and waves crashed and heaved hundreds of feet below the access catwalks along the underside the floating warship.

"Ugh! Underside duty. We could have had stern or bow watch but we had to get underside without even a good view of the sky, just water, water, and more water."

"You and the ocean are actually rather alike, you're both angry early in the morning and you're both salty," Alton chuckled as the walked to their post where two shivering crewmen were waiting to be relieve of their duty.

"Alright boys, go get a hot meal and then some rest we'll handle it from here," Nadia patted one of the cold night watchmen on the back before taking the comm system and reporting to the bridge, "This is port watchpoint three signing in for dawn duty, over."

"This is bridge watch station alpha, hows the weather out there? Over."

"Cold and wet but at least we don't have deep sonar duty."

"You know it sister. Well it sounds like there's not much going on right now so just keep an eye out for pirates and the like. Watch station alpha out."

"Well this shouldn't be too hard just gotta deal with the cold," Alton sat at one of the benches against the railings and kicked his legs up before pulling his goggles over his eyes.

"Dude you look like a bug."

"Good, float like a butterfly stab like a lancer, you know what I mean?"

"You're a dork."

"We all are, except Tiph, she's team mom."

"Pfft, she wishes."

Three hours passed almost half of their assigned time before a warbled transmission crackled over the comms, "This is deep sonar post! We just got a reading on a massive contact, it's a class D Leviathan at least, maybe C. Send out a warning to all nearby craft and scramble the scout drone this thing was rising fast and right under us!"

Moments after the panicked transmission an announcement came over the loudspeakers, **"Alert, a class D to class C Leviathan has been spotted in the immediate area, all hands to standby and keep fighters ready to scramble."**

"Well there goes our relaxing morning of enjoying the sea breeze. Let's keep a look out for this big ass Grimm, shall we?"

"Nothing else to doooooooo-" Nadia trailed off as a shape emerged from the fog about a mile out from the ship and moving fast.

"Shit! That things huge," Alton scrambled for the comms and immediately rang the bridge, "We've spotted the Leviathan! Eastbound from the port side bow!"

"Understood!"

 **"All hands to combat positions! The Leviathan has been visually confirmed to the northeast of our position and closing. Open fire on contact and scramble all fighters!"** The comms cut off and the ship was bustling with activity almost instantly, the deep sonar buoy was hauled up and all deck crew went for the nearest entrance and battened down all hatches behind them.

"To the Adder! Let's light this fucker up," Nadia vaulted over Alton who was still reclining and raced towards the nearest hatch with Alton right behind once he'd gotten to his feet.

Inside boots stomped against the floor as crew rushed to prepare for the fight against the massive Grimm sea monster. Alton and Nadia rushed past a gun emplacement to reach the hangar and caught a glimpse of massive plasma batteries being charged up. The roar of jet engines and thrusters spinning up dominated the hangar as the two hunters jumped into the Adder just as the last missile was loaded onto the wings. Beside them Cream sat in the cockpit of her Spatz fighter. The sleek craft was outfitted with high velocity heat seeking missiles and proximity rounds in the auto cannon, an ideal loadout for dogfighting. Giving a thumbs up through the tinted glass Cream showed that she was ready. Nadia gave a thumbs up in return and fired up the engines before taking off out of the hangar and immediately getting swarmed by a flock of seekers.

"Alton get to the flak gun! Cream will clear a path ahead of us."

Alton pulled himself into the top mounted turret and let loose a volley into the swarm accumulating behind them tearing a hole in the formation. Ahead of them Cream had sliced through a flock of nevermore like wet paper leaving a clear path for the Adder to follow. In the cockpit Nadia leaned into every turn to avoid the Grimm that dominated the airspace around the Leviathan which she now saw was at least sixteen stories above the water level and resembled a giant upright lobster except its face looked more like a scaly spider. Over the area wide comms a high pitched tone played out.

"You hear that?" Alton called from the turret.

"I hear it! Sounds like a C sharp, that means this thing is almost a B rank; better kill it before it reaches shore, we've probably got about twenty minutes give or take."

"Shit! The seekers are backing off I'm gonna switch to the howitzer now and rain some pain on this thing."

"Sure thing Chief, I'll line you up a good shot and hit it with some other ordinance along the way."

Alton slid down the ladder and ran the length of the ship into the cockpit before dropping down the open hatch into the inverted turret below. A large shell slid smoothly into the chamber before exploding and sending the oversized bullet on it's way. The whole craft shook with the volley of missiles that detached from the wings and flew straight into the gruesome face of the massive Grimm. Flying dangerously close the Adder flew through the smoke of the explosions giving Alton a close shot at the gaps between the creatures carapace.

"Woo! Now that's flying. How's that cannon working for you?"

"She shoots like a bloody dream. A very bloody dream."

"Perfect. Oh look we've got a hail from the captain."

"Ms. Cobalt. I'm glad to see you handling our Leviathan problem but there's someone else who can handle it better so return to the ship and escort Penny to the target and give her time to use her main weapon. Bridge out," the transmission cut off and Nadia banked them back towards the warship to rearm and allow Penny to board.

The Adder set down on the hangar deck and a set of small cranes slid into place to attach replacement missiles for the ones they'd used recently. Penny was waiting calmly despite the chaos of the hangar. Suddenly a crippled fighter slid onto the deck burning and heavily damaged. Repair crew rushed to put out the fires and pulled the unconscious pilot from the wreckage barely getting clear before the engines exploded. Turning away from the burning scrap Penny stepped into the bay of the Adder as it prepared to take off again.

"Hello Alton. I'd like to finish this soon as I hadn't finished my charging sequence when the alarms were sounded. It's such a dreary morning for a Grimm attack, all this fog is interfering with my sensors."

"I was having such a nice morning until this thing showed up so yeah, let's kill it quick, shall we?"

"Indeed."

"Alton get back on the flak we've got a bunch of lancers inbound!"

"Got it!"

The dull thump of the flak gun could be heard through the hull for a solid five minutes before the swarm of insect Grimm had been destroyed.

"Alright Penny we're approaching the drop zone, you ready?"

"I'm combat ready!"

"Alright then let's light this mothafucking candle!"

Penny leapt out the open door of the Adder and initiated her flight mode and hovered above the aerial battle below. Drawing her blades she stretched her arms to her sides allowing the swords to spin around her and accumulate energy which glowed from the lasers themselves. Bringing her hands together and making the shape of a gun as a ball of energy formed around her Penny aimed at the Leviathan and 'fired' releasing all the pent up power in a concentrated beam that bored a hole straight through the colossal monster and vaporized smaller ones nearby. The flash of green light could be seen through the fog and all the way to the shores of Mistral and a particularly noisy hotel room.

* * *

"Ah! Damn Carla, if I didn't know better I'd think you've done this be-oh!" Tiphany squealed while her partner gave her a pounding the likes of which she'd never seen.

"Ooh shit. I've never done it before but we've been going for a few hours so I guess I've gotten better- fuck!" Carla moaned as Tiphany clenched around her abnormal member.

"You sure fucking have, I'm proud of you babe we haven't even had our first actual date yet and you're already exceeding _sexpectations_."

"My first time having sex and I'm already getting praise, it's a dream come true. Also was that a pun?"

"Speaking of coming I think I'm about to- ah!"

"S-same here," a shiver went up Carla's spine and she began to thrust harder.

"Oum!" Tiphany moaned and reached orgasm for the first but certainly not last time that morning.

Carla fell on top of her girlfriend who lay naked on the bed of the hotel room they'd rented. Panting she looked up into Tiphany's eyes and Tiphany looked back both with looks of extreme satisfaction written across their faces.

"I've wanted to do that for longer than you can imagine."

"Oh I can imagine."

The couples pillow talk was interrupted by a bright flash of light through the curtain covered windows.

"The hell was that?" Tiphany glanced at the window and sat up abruptly.

"I could care less, I can die happy now."

Tiphany slid out of the sweat coated bed and wrapped herself in a blanket before glancing out the window to see the fog clearing to reveal the disintegrating corpse of the Leviathan with the Tödlich Flüstern hovering overhead.

"Never mind it's just Nadia and Alton having fun killing a fucking Leviathan without us."

"Well we've been having plenty of fun ourselves."

"Oh we have but it's not over yet."

"It's not?"

"Not until I say so, and I plan on riding that dick of yours until lunch time."

"Could we have breakfast first? That left me starving."

"I could use a little pick-me-up too, I guess."

"Okay lemme just call room service."

"Get me a croissant and get whatever for yourself."

"I'll get a waffle."

"Delicious."

* * *

On the edge of the Cliff district the beam of energy could be seen on the horizon as a small flash of green. Ruby, Weiss and, Yang glimpsed the flash from where they sat catching up and reminiscing in the courtyard of the house Qrow had been renting.

"Oh my gods. Did you see that?" Yang gasped.

"My sister's ship is out there! What do you think caused it?" Weiss asked knowing exactly the source of the explosion but holding her tongue for Ruby's sake.

"I know that weapon anywhere."

"Oh no," Yang muttered realizing her sister had caught on.

"That couldn't have been anything but Penny, but she's dead, right? Right Yang?"

"Weeeell not exactly?"

"Yang shut up you're bad at this. She's not dead Ruby, she was rebuilt but she doesn't exactly remember much and we wanted to tell you when you where ready. Do you forgive us?"

"No I don't you jerk! Penny was my friend and I thought she'd been destroyed for sure and she's been alive this whole time and you both knew!?" Ruby had tears of anguish streaming down her face by the time she'd finished screaming at her partner.

"We didn't know how you'd react, how your eyes would react more specifically, and besides she's a military secret and we're not allowed to tell anyone anyways, at least without permission. You've figured it out now and it's too late to do anything and I guess you'll have to meet her eventually so we might as well plan for it."

"Why though, why didn't you tell me? Aren't I your friend Weiss?"

"No of course no-yeah I guess you kind of are and that's exactly why I didn't tell you, I did it to protect you from all the anger and sadness you're feeling now. We wanted to tell you but we couldn't, let's just leave it at that and move on, please."

"We did it to protect you sis but you found out anyways and maybe it woulda been smarter to tell you in the first place but we didn't and we're sorry. Now quit moping and maybe you can meet the new and improved Penny once they're done with cleanup on whatever just happened down there," Yang put her hand on Ruby's shoulder and Ruby leaned into her big sister.

"Yeah, but seriously why would she need to use her main laser out there? Pirates maybe?"

"Oh my gosh guys, did you see? A fricking Leviathan just got blown to hell out in the sea!" Nora burst through the sliding doors shaking with excitement.

"Language Nora," Ren stepped from around the doorway.

"I only know one language Ren, we've been together long enough for you to know that."

"I meant your profanity, but now that we're together-together and not just together I'm supposed to keep you in line, hard as it may be," Ren ruffled the redheads hair playfully.

"Whatever, you can wash my mouth or spank me or whatever later, right now we need to go check out this dead Leviathan before it fades!"

"Oh it's you'll get a spanking all right," Ren muttered without even breaking a smile.

"What?!" Nora squeaked.

"What?" Ren asked unfazed.

"Lie Ren! You dirty boy!" Nora slapped her boyfriend on the back knocking the breath out of him before elbowing him in the ribs and whispering, "Why don't you get some electric stimulation while you're at it?"

"Ew, ew! Okay, that is gross guys we don't need to hear any more! Enough," Ruby butt in before either could continue.

"Damn since when did those two get serious?" Yang asked Ruby who was obviously fed up with the couple.

"About the time we killed the Nuckelavee is when they started making lovey dovey eyes at each other and then about two days later they wake me up with the squeaking of bed springs. Filthy degenerates," Ruby shook her head to clear the images of the time she walked in on the two in the kitchen despite Qrows request to keep it clean outside the bedroom.

"About time, they've been like dogs awkwardly circling around the same bone."

"Not a good example Yang," Weiss chided.

"NoT a GoOd eXaMPle YaNg," the blonde mocked.

"Come on knock it off, let's go look at the Leviathan before it fades, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Usually only one in fifty hunters even sees a Leviathan but those numbers are rather inaccurate since most die without reporting it. We'll at least see a dead one," Ruby urged.

"News reports say it fell just off shore and it's a class C almost a class B, around a hundred and fifty yards long, counting the tail of course," Ren commented.

"It looks like a giant lobster! I wonder if it tastes like one?" Nora rubbed her stomach hungry just thinking about it.

"Don't try it. Remember the last time you tried to eat a Grimm?"

"Ugh, yes. It hurt so bad. I can still feel the cramps."

"I was reading my local Grimm encyclopedia I got and it mentioned something about an S class Leviathan in ancient legends, I giant King Taijitu of sorts," Ruby remembered.

"There's never been an S class seen before or since the Mantle tsunami before the Great War. It was a giant squid washed up on shore by hundred foot waves, it demolished an entire coastline and was only stopped by a warship crashing into it directly and setting off the reactor to blow it up," Weiss added.

"Well we'll miss our chance to see this one if we don't stop talking, jeez guys," Nora groaned.

"I've already called a taxi," Ren nodded coolly.

"Thanks babe," Nora stood on her tiptoes and gave Ren a kiss on the cheek which brought a small smile to his face.

"Ugh, physical affection. I wish I could have some," Weiss said to herself.

"Does the Ice Queen need a hug?" Ruby snorted and stretched her arms toward her partner.

"I most certainly do not!" blush crept across Weiss's cheeks knowing she really did.

"Yeah you do princess, get in here!" Yang grabbed the heiress and crushed her with a hug that Ruby joined in on.

"You two are terrible," Weiss snarled with a slight lift to the edge of her mouth.

"You know you love us," Ruby assured.

 _"More than you'll ever know,"_ Weiss thought to herself, internally this time.

* * *

"We need more time!"

"On the contrary Taurus, the sooner we strike the weaker they are. The city grows uneasy with tension between many groups of power and the stress of having a foreign warship overhead certainly helps us. Let me handle the defenses and the main forces, you and your followers deal with Haven."

"This is temporary I'll have you remember, witch! We aren't your pets or your little animals, if we suffer losses I see as unacceptable or our deal is broken, I **will** destroy you and your mistress. Our requirements are few, resources for our army, land once the humans are removed, and lastly Blake unharmed and for me to deal with personally."

"I remember your petty terms from when we struck this deal bull, your obsession over the huntress still strikes me as strange, what did she do to earn the hatred of the oh so mighty Adam Taurus?"

"That is none of your business, she's a traitor and a thief!"

"Fine, you've told me all I need to know anyways. Now in the meantime isn't there an assassination attempt you must be focusing on? I'll see you later rather than sooner hopefully, but until then I bid you farewell," Cinder stepped backwards into a vortex like portal leaving Adam with his thoughts.

"Damn her, I'd prefer to kill her but that would go back on our contract. Lieutenant!"

A large man with half a mask and thick burns covering he rest of his face entered the tent wielding a massive chainsaw.

"You called, supreme leader?" The faunus spoke in a grating voice like sandpaper on a chalkboard.

"Post two men outside my tent, no one is to enter while I'm gone and deliver the order to send the message at dawn tomorrow. I may not be back then."

"Understood sir."

"They will know the meaning of fear soon."

 **Authors notes:**

Imagine going to sleep after almost forty hours of none during which you fought thousands of darkness monsters and having to wake up six hours later, yeah you'd be tired and grumpy too.

They snuck off in the middle of the night of course they fucking did.

It's an airship and technology can't be trusted after the Fall of Vale so they've got flesh and blood sentries just in case.

A few hundred feet above rolling waves at six in the morning, I can't think of anything colder and windier.

I imagine there's a system to how Grimm are classified, first you've got normal ones stopping at Goliaths in size and the alpha variants being largest of each normal type, then there are pit beasts the remnants of destroyed spawning pits usually larger and stronger than goliaths depending on pit size, lastly there are Leviathans Grimm that have been isolated for many years long enough to deviate from normal growth and take on a unique form granting the Leviathan size chart each with a corresponding musical note for easier communication including sharps for larger and flats for smaller but S class being the largest with all notes played in harmony, I got the note signal thing from how actual airships and sea ships used whistle tones as signals.

This is greatly influenced by pacific rim, obviously.

Surprisingly not many people died in that battle because the Leviathan was big and slow too slow for fighters and too far to reach the Tödlich Flüstern and there weren't enough air Grimm to truly overrun the fighters and bombers.

Penny laser goes pew, well more like BWAAAAAA but whatever.

Mid battle coitus, not that they know what's happening but still.

My first smut, I hope you're proud.

It was short yeah but I'm not too confident writing that yet.

It's got a M rating for a reason don't complain.

Ruby's angery!

Not really she got calmed down pretty quick.

But still, angst.

Lewd Renora, that is all.

Foreshadowing, yay! It's my _fore_ te. Ey, get it?

Thanks to everyone who favorites, follows, and reviews. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and helps me improve and know what you like about my writing.


	12. Date Night

"It's been weeks since anything's happened! No missions, no information regarding anything, not even any word about the Fang, it's like they disappeared," Tiphany flopped down on her bed after a sparring match with her girlfriend who fell beside her equally exhausted.

Alton raised an eyebrow from behind his scroll where he was looking through some reports, "Well we might have something to do since the general himself is scheduled to arrive today along with a shipment of some new tech straight from RD."

"Did someone say tech?" Tiphany bolted upright.

"Hardware not software."

"Damn."

"Did someone say hardware?" Nadia peeked around the washroom door wrapped in towels.

"Something about a particular engine you may have mentioned yesterday," Alton tapped his chin with a smug grin knowing exactly what engines they were.

"You didn't! Did you? Please tell me you didn't go to Ironwood to get me those engines."

"I didn't go to Ironwood. I went to the inventor himself. He said he needed a test pilot for them on something similar to the Adder as they're designed for a gunship with similar specifics. So I may have gotten them delivered aboard the ship bringing the general."

"Alton. You are the absolute best! This is going to completely overhaul the way she handles, turns will be sharper, oh she'll go so much faster, it's going to be beautiful. How can I make it up to you?"

"You can make it up to me by helping with an investigation I'm working on tonight, a particular club that may have Fang affiliations."

"What is it? Drug smuggling, gun running, slave trade?"

"We don't know, we just know the place is run by an ex White Fang lieutenant and some frequent patrons are known active members."

"Y'all are going to stake out a club? We want in," Carla said through the blankets she was laying on.

"No can do, this is about stealth and knowing you there'll be a full blown bar fight by the time we're done. Also I need you to finish with that weapon so we can get back to missions at full capacity again."

"Man that sucks, but at least it gives us time to try that thing you suggested babe," Carla poked Tiphany who was still laying on her back.

"We did not need to hear that! We're leaving now but you two can do that while we're gone and dealing with the engines."

"We sure will. As soon as we shower though, we both stink."

"Why don't you just join me in the shower; two birds with one stone," Tiphany winked causing Carla to dig her face further into the blankets to hide her blushing face.

"Yeah, ok we're gone. Have fun. Use protection," Nadia bolted out the door now that she'd dressed grabbing Alton by the collar on her way out.

"Be safe kids. If you need any lube I'm pretty sure that Winter's got some in her cabin for when that Qrow guy comes around," Alton called as he was dragged away chuckling.

* * *

"Weiss seriously this is getting old," Ruby drawled having been woken up much earlier than usual despite it already being afternoon.

"You've got a visitor and I'm sure you'll be glad to speak with them."

"Is it Penny?"

"No."

"Then I couldn't care less."

"It's her dad."

"What? She's a robot how does she have a dad? Actually he's probably her creator that would make sense."

"She has a living soul and aura don't you think that had to come from somewhere?"

"I guess? I don't know a lot about aura."

"She is both his creation and biological daughter, her original body was sick and died when she was twelve. She's been a robot for almost six years now."

"Oh, that is both really cool and sad at the same time. Now hurry up and introduce me to the guy!"

"Hush, he's right downstairs."

"Sorry."

The two of them entered the lounge of the house and saw the stout form of Doctor Polendina speaking with Qrow.

"I heard Ironwood is visiting today, I was hoping to have a word with him."

"Oh he'll be here for a few days but I'm sure he'd be willing to meet with you."

"It's rather urgent. About the, ya know," Qrow nodded his head towards the girls on the stairs to show that it couldn't be talked about in front of others.

"Oh I didn't realize you knew about that. I'll see if he's free any time soon."

"Thanks pal. You can talk to my niece now just tell James to call me if he wants anything."

"Of course. Ah, Ms. Rose! I've been meaning to speak to you about the prospect of seeing my daughter and she will be free to speak this evening once she's finished with some of her duties. I would have had your meeting take place yesterday but she needed repairs after the fight with the Leviathan I'm sure you heard about."

"Yeah, that's when I realized she was here actually. Thank you for letting me see her, it's just that I really thought she was dead after the Fall."

"Yes so did I but one of our asset recovery teams found that her aura containment and power core were still intact and she was brought back to Atlas for reconstruction along with some long overdue upgrades if I say so myself."

"She did seem very work in progress from what I saw of the hardware."

"You've seen her inner workings?"

"They're really impressive, I especially like how you housed the fluid transport in the frame."

"Yes, she is my pride and joy. I came to meet you today to speak about having you meet her again. You must understand she is very different from before both mentally and physically. She may not even remember you."

"That's fine just as long as she's still Penny I'll meet her and be her friend all over again."

"That's what I wanted to hear, I'm glad my little girl has such friends like you. You can come aboard the ship this evening to see her when your uncle comes to speak with the general," the doctor stood and bowed to Ruby who stood and returned it.

"Thank you for considering it. It'll be good to see her again."

"I'm sure she'll be very happy if she remembers you."

"I hope so. Thank you again sir."

"No thank you, for being such a good friend to my daughter."

Geppeto left promptly after that leaving Ruby to ponder what she'd say during her conversation with the rebuilt Penny.

* * *

"This morning in light of recent White Fang attacks a new Faunus rights group from Menagerie known as the Pack has announced their opposition to the White Fang. Their current representative Ghira Belladonna one of the founders of the White Fang said in a brief interview 'It was not my intention for the White Fang to become violent, but they did and know I see it as my duty to stop them. The Pack doesn't just want Faunus rights, we want equal rights for all and keeping with that humans and Faunus alike are welcome in the Pack.' In other news Atlas has announced plans for a search for any survivors in the ruins of Vale with General Ironwood visiting here in Mistral to publicly share his goal of evacuating any and all residents of Vale who remain there after the initial evacuation and subsequent closing of the city of Vale's borders," Alton stared at his scroll that was playing a live news report from the local Mistral network.

"You hear that Nadia?"

"Yeah, evacuation plans, the Pack, it's all politics but well meaning politics at least. Not likely that many people are still living in Vale. I like the sound of the Pack. They're all inclusive and won't use violence in their progression, unlike the Fang. Damn! The casings stuck, if I drop this it'll crush my feet, Alton could you help me out here?"

"Sure thing," Alton pocketed his scroll and stepped over to help loosen the portion of the new engine they were installing, "Are you bringing any weapons on the mission? I've decided to go unarmed to stay unnoticed."

"I've got..." Nadia patted the inside of her right calf, her left hip, and her right shoulder blade, "Three knives and I'll probably bring that gun I kept."

"Why did you keep it anyways?"

"I liked the balance and it's always helpful to have something besides Sanguis Fons sometimes; rockets are rather obvious you know? I've got it kitted out with a laser sight and a silencer now though so that might help."

"I might need to borrow a knife if it gets too hairy."

"If it gets into an extended firefight we can just call in our weapons with a rocket locker."

"I wonder what would happen if we dropped one on somebody?"

"Best not to think about it."

The final portion of the starboard engine clicked into place and the two stood back to admire their handiwork.

"Are you gonna test it before we go out?"

"I can do plenty of barrel rolls on the way back so I'll do it then, right now we need to coordinate our outfits."

"Ugh, fashion."

"You may not like it Chief but if we're gonna blend in we need to wear something besides our usual."

"Fine. Can I at least wear my jacket?"

"It's leather, right?"

"Yeah, it's maroon though."

"That won't matter. Wear some black pants or something though, leave your goggles too."

"Wasn't planning on wearing them anyways."

"Good, let's get changed and get going."

* * *

The sun had begun to set by the time the club which turned out to be a repurposed warehouse in the Sea district. The smell of a nearby fish packing plant was almost masked by the smell of booze from the bar inside the club. At the moment patrons were mulling around outside or mingling inside while they waited for the music to start up.

"Shall we?" Alton asked extending one hand to his partner.

"We shall," Nadia took his hand giggling.

Inside the smell was less booze and more the scent of hundreds of tightly packed bodies. The music was just kicking off and the DJ wore a large mask as many did. In the corner nearest the open door housed a bar and a couple of tables and stools. Neon lights lined the edges of the room and hanging from the ceiling were fog machines and lasers. With just a quick glance Alton could tell that most of the people here were Faunus with a few Humans scattered here and there.

"Let's head to the bar, that way we can keep an eye on the door."

"Good thinking, just don't get too drunk."

"Only water for me tonight, until the mission is over that is," Alton winked and led her over to a table against the wall.

They had only been sitting there for a few minutes before they saw their targets. Six White Fang members in full uniform, masks hanging on their belts and well armed. Two of them held their weapons ready with masks on and hoods up but the rest were smiling and ready to enjoy their night. The six of them strode over to the bar and sat down to order drinks with the two masked ones standing behind them. One of the Fang, the leader of the squad most likely took a look around and set his eyes on Alton.

"Hey what're you doing here with a human chick? Yeah she's nice looking but you deserve a nice Faunus gal."

Nadia bared her fangs, "Fuck off creep. I'm more Faunus than you are."

"Ooh feisty! Sorry about that pal, I'll let you two enjoy your drinks," the guy who Alton could make out as a pig Faunus by his snout turned back to the bar and ordered a drink before whispering to the guard on his left who then walked over and sat down at the table with Alton and Nadia.

"What d'you want?" Alton asked the thug.

The guard pulled off their mask revealing gold eyes and onyx hair under the hood, "You're the hunter that fought Adam right?" Nadia drew her pistol and had it against the girls head before she could react.

"Hold on I was getting to my point, and she answered my question. You two are definitely hunters. My 'associate' over there doesn't know and that helps me immensely. Listen you've heard of the Pack right?" Alton and Nadia nodded, "Well I'm with them," she reached out to shake their hands despite a gun still being to her forehead.

"Stand down Nadia," Alton reaches out and took her outstretched hand and Nadia did the same after she'd holstered her gun.

"What do you want from us?" Nadia asked still suspicious.

"I assume you're here about those five?" the spy pointed over her shoulder at the White Fang thugs, "If you are then you know now that this place provides the Fang with a good portion of their recruits and supplies. I'm here to keep them from starting a war with an anti Faunus hate group and as much as I'd like to see them go down it will cause chaos in the streets and hundreds if not thousands of deaths. Their plan is to start a shootout here with two Faunus disguised as members of the hate group. They'll use civilians as shields and eventually they'll die fighting each other and will be used as martyrs but the majority of the Fang won't know what happened. At the same time a human only bar is going to get blown up in the Cliffs district while the highest ranking members of the hate group are holding a meeting, my partner is making sure that doesn't happen. Now the question is: will you help me stop this from becoming a massacre?"

"It's in the job description, of course we will. Just tell us when and these guys are going down," Alton agreed.

"Good. I've already alerted the authorities but knowing this corrupt system they won't send any thing until an actual gunfight breaks out."

"Let us handle that, we're here on Winter Schnee's orders," Nadia pulled out her scroll and dialed the number she'd been told to call in case of a complication, "Sir this is Nadia Cobalt off of the Tödlich Flüstern, we have confirmed visuals on White Fang activity in the club; requesting backup. Understood. He says we'll have support and ambulances here in about five minutes, in the meantime we deal with this our way."

"In that case I'll go ahead and deal with one of their martyrs," the girl put her hand to a mic in her ear, "Take the shot," a loud crack split the air and a fountain of blood sprayed into the crowd accompanied by screams.

The other fake human pulled an assault rifle from under his coat and began to open up into the crowd before he was tackled by Alton who had jumped up and pushed through the panicking mob when the hidden marksman had fired. In the chaos the five White Fang thugs vaulted the bar and opened fire on Alton who ducked behind a table. Nadia grabbed the last of the Fang to try and take cover and promptly slit his throat through his thin aura with one of her knives.

"We could use some backup!" the disguised Faunus shouted into her mic over the clammed of gunfire.

A window was smashed and through it came the figure of the sniper. She landed on the floor lithely and whipped her bronze ponytail back over her shoulder before drawing an smg and firing into the bar earning a cry of pain from a now wounded White Fang member.

"You! You're the prisoner from the riots!" Nadia shouted recognizing the sniper as Sylvia Brass the former White Fang operative who had killed Commander Coal.

"You! You're the chick that interrogated me!"

"You did say you'd leave the Fang but I didn't think you'd be putting your talents to other uses."

"I'm a good sniper it's not like I could get a normal job with a record like I have."

"True."

"Cut the chat there's still four criminals we've got to deal with!" Alton shouted as he pushed the table he'd ducked behind towards the bar like a shield.

Glancing around Alton saw no sign of the spy but the loud bang followed by ringing ears told him someone had thrown a flashbang. Peeking over the table he saw a silhouette drop from the rafters on the head of one of the thugs who'd left cover for just a second too long.

"Rush them now!" Alton vaulted the table and sprinted to the bar taking a few bullets but only going faster because of them.

Nadia hot on her leaders tail shot the leader in the shoulder sending him crashing into a rack of drinks leaving Alton to deal with the remaining two. Ducking a fist Alton grabbed the guy behind him and threw him into the other who fell to the ground unconscious thanks to a heavy bone plate on the thrown ones head. Turning back to the hunter after shaking off the impact the thug was greeted with Alton's arms around his shoulders before getting lifted and slammed into the concrete floor backwards.

"Suplex City bitch! And that is how it's done!"

"Hunters, I should have known," the pig Faunus spat out blood on the ground as he was handcuffed by one of the police officers who had arrived shortly after the fight.

"Small dicked assholes, we should have known," Nadia mocked him as he was thrust into a cruiser with his only living comrade while the rest including the fake humans were loaded into a coroners van ready for the autopsy table.

"We'll put a proper investigation into the owner of this establishment as soon as we find him. Thanks for the help you two," one of the officers said clapping Alton on the back.

"Just doing our job though I am a bit disappointed I didn't get to have a drink," Alton shrugged.

"I'm sure no one would mind if you went back in and poured yourself one. Just think of it as a little public gratification, ya know?"

"Sure thing. Don't let those two cause any more trouble."

"Wasn't planning on it. You two have a nice night now," the officer climbed into his cruiser with his partner and drove off to deal with their prisoners.

"You go have your drink Chief I'll be waiting right here," Nadia pushed him towards the now empty bar with a smile.

"Alright, alright," Alton stepped through the warehouse doors and walked to the bar and after looking around and not finding an intact glass just took a whole bottle of some top shelf liquor.

"Thanks for the assistance," Alton turned around to see the girl from the Pack behind him with her hood down revealing a pair of cat ears.

"Oh it's you. It was no big deal, we were kind of here to do that anyways if you don't believe me. If anything I should be thanking you."

"Either way thanks. If you ever need anything the Pack will be glad to help out," the girl handed him a piece of paper with a scroll number on it before turning away.

"Before you go," the girl turned back to see what he had to say, "I thought you'd like to know that your team is here."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't _Blake_. I recognized you as soon as I saw you without that hood. Your team needs you."

"How did you know my name?"

"There's a lot of things I know but one thing I don't is why you left them. That's none of my business though. There's no RWBY without the B though and I'm sure you understand that. Do some looking and I'm sure you'll find them. They miss you. Don't keep them waiting."

"I... I'll try. Thanks."

"Thank me later once you've talked to Yang. She punched me because of you. Flashbacks and all. Just get out of here before the cops start looking around."

"Again thank you," and with that she was gone through a window that had been shot out during the fight.

"What took you so long?" Nadia asked once Alton had come back outside alcohol in hand.

"Took me a while to find one I liked."

"You're gonna drink that whole thing tonight?" Nadia raised an eyebrow at the rather large bottle.

" _We're_ going to drink it all tonight. I'm not drinking alone."

"I can't fly drunk Alton."

"Then don't fly. We can always stay with Ruby and Yang."

"Eh fuck it, gimme that," Nadia snatched the bottle and took a large gulp, "That's good, top shelf?"

"You know it. Let's get out of here and find someplace quiet to get drunk off our asses."

"I know just the place."

* * *

Ruby had been waiting outside Geppeto's workshop for almost half an hour when she had gotten up the courage to knock on the door. The door slid open by itself surprising the young huntress. Around a corner a few feet from the door Ruby could see the workshop cluttered with spare parts and tools,

"H-hello, Doctor Polendina? Anyone home?"

The muffled voice of the inventor called from around the corner, "Come in Miss Rose, excuse the clutter I've been working on a new cooling system for Penny. She's recharging at the moment but she'll be finished in a moment."

Ruby carefully stepped past a fully dismantled plasma coil and entered the workshop itself which was lined with many different tables ladden with even more tools and parts than could be seen from the door. In the center of the room was a table much like an operating table except for a multitude of wires and plugs coming through the bottom designed to interface with the 'patient' connected to many different computers. Through a door to Ruby's right was a glass tube full of a glowing green liquid in which she could see Penny suspended by a large cable plugged into the android's neck.

"Don't mind the nanofluids though she may be a bit damp once she's out, they're just repairing any minor damage. What do you think of my workshop? You're obviously a good mechanic if Penny trusted you to help with anything not to mention your uncle mentioned you made your weapon yourself and I can honestly say I've never seen better craftsmanship in a hunter's weapon besides that of my dear friend Ella Goldenrod."

"Is she related to Alton? They've got the same last name."

"Yes she was his mother but tragically lost her life along with his father in a, um, fire. Yes that's what it was, a fire. She was top of her class in Atlas Academy before becoming a freelancer and eventually settling as an assistant to the program that ended up producing team ANCT and the others like them. Her husband, Nathan Bismuth, was the lead animobiologist."

"Animo-what now?"

"Animobiologist, someone who studies aura and similar things such as silver eyes and maidens. He was the one who originally developed the technology to hold and transfer an aura like Penny's first body and the device used to transfer the Fall maiden's powers to your friend Pyrrha before her untimely death. I merely improved the device."

"Wow sounds pretty complicated."

A metallic hiss came from the small charging room causing Ruby to hop down from the work table she'd been sitting on during the conversation.

"Father? Oh, there you are. We have a guest, salutations!" Penny had stepped out of her pod and walked barefoot into the workshop dressed in athletic shorts and a light green tank top.

"Yes this is your friend Ruby from Beacon. Do you remember her?"

Penny squinted at the small red huntress before leaning back on her heels and thinking.

"Oh! I think I do remember you. You were my first friend at Beacon. I remember some about you but not a lot. I know you were very sad and angry after I was destroyed because I saw you before I went onto reserve power. Well it is a pleasure to meet you again Ruby Rose!" Ruby suddenly pulled Penny into a tight hug.

"Oh! This is unexpected."

"Don't leave me like that again Penny. Please. I thought you were gone for good."

"Don't worry Ruby, I'm much stronger than before plus I was given a few defense mechanisms against magnets to avoid a repeat of before."

Ruby giggled before pulling away to wipe a tear from her cheek, "That's good to hear. Why don't you tell me about some of these upgrades, that's something we always did before, at least after I found out you were a robot. We'd always talk about your technology and then I'd compare it to something a normal person would have, to show you you're not so different."

"Yes I remember some of those conversations, remember when you asked how much memory I had and I told you about my servers back in Atlas?"

"Yeah I freaked out, it's a little unfair in case of trivia you having access to the CCT network from your brain."

"I'm also very good at guessing games."

"I bet you'd be good at this one card game we used to play back at Beacon. There was a lot of strategy involved."

"Like chess?"

"Kind of."

"Why don't you teach me? If you'd like of course."

"I don't have any cards but why not?"

"Stupendous!"

* * *

"So how long do you plan to walk across town?"

"We're almost there, it's hard remembering which pillar it is, usually there's an old man that follows me for a while before I get there," Nadia scoffed as Alton took a generous swing of the almost half empty bottle.

"Aah," Alton sighed with satisfaction before passing the bottle to Nadia, "Sounds creepy, did you slap him?"

"He knew my name when I confronted him the first time and said some cryptic shit about my blood, my snake tattoo, and a sister of the soul. There was a prophecy too but he fell asleep standing up and when I woke him up he wouldn't talk anymore saying that I'd find it myself in time."

"Sounds like some weird tourist attraction nonsense."

"Hey there he is!" Nadia pointed out a hunched over old man of at least ninety years old sitting on a bench outside a small restaurant with neon lights, "What's up old man!"

"If it isn't the young mistress? And you've brought a friend? Interesting."

"He calls me that too. What voodoo bullshittery do you have to tell me this time?"

"No more or less than before: Your blood is the key, your tattoo is the door, your soul sister is the treasure."

"See?" Nadia poked Alton playfully, "Whatever, I'm trying to get to the temple but I can never seem to find it without you, care to show the way?"

"As you wish. I'm getting too old for this, I should get an apprentice."

"Maybe he could explain your prophecy stuff better than you."

"Hmph. If it were possible but this prophecy has been passed down for over two hundred years."

"Damn and you're half that age."

"I'm only seventy thank you very much! And besides the fire that was a prerequisite to the prophecy was rather recent, seventeen years ago give or take a few dings to the ole nugget."

The wrinkled old man led them down a dirty alleyway that looked like it hadn't been cleaned or so much as touched by a drop of water for the past ten years. The alley opened up onto an open hill in the middle of the Cloud district near many other similar hills. In the middle of the large hill was a butte of stone going straight up about three hundred feet and being no more than one hundred around. At the bottom of the rock were a series of flat boulders carved with different reptiles and amphibians painted with various shades of red, blue, and purple. Near the base of the pillar was a pile of crumbled bricks below an ascending staircase carved into the stone.

"What is this place?"

"Oh look he's gone again, funny how he disappears when we get here. This my dear friend is an ancient temple belonging to those tribes we talked about way back when we first got here. The ones who were rivals but had a yearly peace meeting where they were all wiped out about say, seventeen years ago."

"First off we got here like a month ago, and secondly this is where that happened? As in over three hundred people slaughtered by a five year old who was nowhere to be found afterwards? As in no survivors whatsoever? As in had tattoos on them from birth signifying a certain Grimm that had a similar trait to their Faunus trait? As in basically the kind of tattoo you have? I think you might come from one of those tribes if maybe the old man who knows what happened here also knows your name and says some criptic shit about you when he leads you here."

"See he gets it! I can't believe the lone survivor is so terrible at deductive reasoning!"

"Shut up old man!" Nadia turned and shouted at the fire escape where he had been watching them in hiding.

"Nope, I get to explain now. Actually no, I'll let your friend explain it when you get up there, he'll figure it out if you don't."

"I really hate you, ya know that?"

"That's the point, anger helps you figure it out, gets that magic blood flowing. Not magic just DNA actually. Nevermind. Just climb up there."

"Fuck you too you old fart."

"Nah, I'm too old for that. Can't get it up anymore."

"Didn't need to know that!" Nadia screamed already climbing the rubble pile to reach the staircase while Alton waited above for her to get up.

"We're leaving now. Thanks old wise dude," Alton bowed while trying to contain his laughter.

"Not wise only very good at remembering things. Don't get too shit faced, I see that bottle," the old man almost dissolved into the darkness and they didn't see him again even after glancing around before continuing the climb.

"That was weird."

"Ya think dude?"

"Maybe just a little."

"What if there's like a DNA coded door that needs a blood sample to work?"

"Don't enable him."

"You never did say how you found this place."

Nadia sighed, "I was bored, you were unconscious and wounded, I needed to brood and reflect deep inner thoughts, but mostly this place looked cool and I was bored. The view from one of the windows is great."

"Neat. Wait you found this place after that first mission?"

"Yep. You had a massive chunk of Grimm bone in your back, Carla had multiple smaller pieces of Grimm bone, Tiphany was freaking out over Carla, I just needed to think."

"Well it certainly looks good for that, what with all the dust and cobwebs," Alton sneezed as he opened the heavy double doors.

"That's just around the edges, in the main hall the window pretty much keeps all that out."

"What wind-oh," the two stepped into the main hall which consisted of a large circular chamber in the center with the door on one side and a floor to ceiling window at least fourth feet wide on the other right behind a stage with benches set in front of it.

"Yeah that one. There are three other sections I know of, the north hall on our left with a bunch of beds covered in bloodstains and scorch marks, the south hall on our right with a staircase leading upstairs to another bunk room with more of the same beds all burnt and bloody but next to that staircase is a stone door with no way to open it, believe me, I've tried."

"Have you tried blood? As in 'blood is the key' blood?"

"I don't intend to."

"Do it."

"Nope," Nadia shook her head and turned away from the door that had thick layer of dust on it.

Alton turned from his partner and wiped off some of the dust, "Man this is a lot of dust. Help me wipe this off."

"Fine," Nadia turned and helped Alton wipe off the dust revealing a purple King Taijitu carved into the stone.

"Whoa! Look at this thing, it's kinda like your tattoo. Wait a second 'the tattoo is the door' ring a bell?"

"This is ridiculous Alton."

"You're gonna have to bleed to open it. You want me to do it or do you want to?"

"No I'm not cutting myself to open a damn door!"

"Well how about this?" before Nadia could react Alton had kissed her.

"What?" Nadia could barely think before her instincts took over and she pulled him in for another kiss.

 _"Oum, I don't know how long I've wanted this,"_ Nadia thought as their lips met.

Suddenly Nadia reeled back clutching her lip that was now bleeding. Alton had bit her.

"You kinky bastard!"

"Sorry but it was a mutual win, you get to kiss me and I get to kiss you plus I get some blood for whatever the fuck this door is," Alton reached over and wiped some of the blood dripping off of her chin and rubbed it onto the door right on one of the Grimm's heads, the one that didn't already have blood on as the other had a thin crust of dried gore.

"Wait so you didn't do that just to get some blood for that stupid door?"

"Nah, I've wanted to kiss you for a while. It's your damned smile that started it, then I started looking lower and this was around the time that we were all getting hit by puberty but even after that I still wanted more than just being friends, just being partners."

"Yeah, I've felt the same but definitely for a lot shorter time, more around the time we got here. I started feeling a lot more protective of you. I wanted you to stay safe if just so I could see you again."

"Why are feelings so complicated," Alton shrugged and lifted the bottle he'd been carrying so he could take a drink before handing it to Nadia who chugged the last of it.

"Now get over here I need more of that and the door isn't going anywhere," Nadia tackled Alton against the wall.

"Finally we can just do this," Alton kissed her again this time slower so they could both savor it.

The rumble of stone grinding on stone knocked them out of their love drunk and alcohol drunk stupor.

"Oh come on! Hey, at least we know the blood worked."

"Yeah but now we have to see what's behind it," Nadia clambered to her feet drawing her pistol just in case.

Through the door only a staircase could be seen leading down into the darkness.

"Ladies first," Alton said pointing down the stairs.

"How chivalrous," Nadia fanned her face before kicking Alton down the stairs.

"Shit! The fuck was that for?"

"Biting me, you know with fangs like these I should be the only one biting around here. Now what's it like down there?"

"Wait a second," Alton fumbled for his scroll in the darkness before opening it and lighting a small area around him, "There's just a carving of a snake with a bunch of heads. There's words carved into it but I can't read them, looks like native Mistrali."

Nadia ran down the stairs two at a time before sliding to a stop beside her partner, "Sure looks like a family tree? Snake? I don't know. It's the only explanation for why it branches off from the tail. Look there's a few heads along the sides but it starts narrowing again near the bottom. If it's a family tree those are people who didn't have children. Damn look at the very bottom!" Alton crouched down and saw that where the last few rows of names were they had been burned away, all but two.

"If I really am one of them I guess one of these is me."

"Most likely. What about the other? The one who did this maybe?" Alton tried to rub away the ash coating the names near the remaining two, "Wait a damn second, these two are connected to the two above them. You've got a sibling!"

"Bullshit," Nadia crouched down beside him and saw that they were indeed connected as if they were siblings, "I'll be damned. Hey that means that if the other is the one who wiped out the tribes my sibling is the one who murdered them including our parents!"

"Great, your sister committed genocide."

"Not full genocide, we're both still alive. At least I think so, they might not be. You said she, how do you know they're a girl?"

"All reports say the only known survivor was a little girl standing in the rubble and ash. Then she disappeared, poof," Alton mimicked a puff of smoke with his hands.

"This is a lot to take in, how do we even now it's true? We could just be making a big assumption here."

"How else do you explain your blood opening a door that most likely hasn't been opened since just after your birth?"

"Good point. I guess I must be," Nadia slumped against the wall head in her hands, "This has been a fucking night hasn't it? First we get in a gunfight, met a chick who killed our superior officer a few weeks ago and helped her, found out we like each other more than just friends or partners, and now it turns out I'm related to a long extinct tribe of Faunus who may or may not have been wiped out by my own sibling."

"At least you didn't do it alone. We should get Tiphany to come and translate this sometime, she probably knows at least some Mistrali."

"Yeah," Nadia yawned, "Man I'm tired."

"You wanna head back to the ship?"

"Wait I'm gonna check something first," Nadia messaged Cream's number on her scroll:

Nadia: "Are our teammates still fucking?"

Cream: "Yeah. Passed by your dorm a few minutes ago, could hear em in the hall. Like animals in heat. No offense."

Nadia: "None taken, it's a good analogy. Could you tell the captain we'll be staying here?"

Cream: "No problem. :P"

"We'll stay in the Adder, Tiph and Carla are still being nasty."

"Oh great. They better not get on my bed."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Let the kids have fun."

"They're not kids they're our teammates. Plus if they have too much fun we might end up with an unwanted fifth team member."

"Dude! They're not idiots, they've got condoms and know how to use them. Plus we don't know if Carla is even fertile, it's iffy at best when it come to stuff like that."

"True, I did do some research when I found out. Yeah we'll leave them be. I guess we'll head back to the Adder."

"Dinner first, maybe that restaurant we saw on the way here?"

"Sure, I guess it'll be kind of a date."

"This whole night has been kind of a date Alton."

"True. So I guess we're a thing now? Like well and truly a couple?"

"Let's take it slow for now, we like each other and that's what matters. No need to rush."

"It's kinda my thing, sorry."

Nadia leaned in and kissed Alton on the cheek, "No need to apologize, we're both new to this."

Alton blushed hard and looked away embarrassed.

"Let's get out of here."

"Yeah."

* * *

"Sun how's it going on your end?"

"Not too bad Blake, not too bad at all. No casualties but there was enough talk of less than legal things at the meeting for me to get them arrested with a quick recording. The bombs were disarmed easily enough, Ilia really knows her way around explosives," Blake couldn't see through the scroll but Sun was grinning like a fool as the disarmed bombs and anti Faunus criminals were loaded into a police van.

"Good, I'll meet you back at the apartment."

"Actually I was kind of planning on meeting up with my team. You don't really need me any more and I know your dad would be happier if I left you well enough alone. If you need help I'll be down but I'm sure my team are anxious to see me home."

"You go ahead then, keep in touch."

"No promises. I'm joking, I will. See ya around kitty."

"Don't call me that! And bye."

"Bye!"

Blake heard the call cut off and put her scroll back in her pocket and looked towards the horizon from the rooftop she was perched on to see the sun begin to rise over the Scarlet sea. Sighing Blake glanced behind her to Haven academy before jumping to the next rooftop in the direction of the apartment she'd been staying in with Sylvia and her girlfriend. Blake came to a stop about a block from her destination when her scroll buzzed.

"Hey Ilia, Sun told me how you two did."

"Can't believe he ditched us though," the chameleon scorned.

"He's got a team to get back to. He's still their leader and he's got responsibilities to them. I'm kind of glad to see him though because he can get a bit annoying."

"In a sweet way, if I was straight I might consider it," Ilia jokes.

"I'm not so sure about him either, he's shown interest in me but not so much that he's really given much away, ya know?"

"Oh believe me I was dancing around that grey area for who knows how long! I figured it out around the time I met you though."

"I'm still undecided, I'm not sure about either but I'd rather stay away from guys, it's still only been a year since I broke up with Adam."

"I have no idea what you saw in him," Ilia snorted.

"What we all did, what made him a good leader. But I realized that he wasn't worthy of my respect much less my love, and that's when I broke off our relationship and my ties to the Fang."

"Smart move, I wish you'd taken me with you or at least told me about it first."

"Sorry. I tried to keep it secret and I knew Adam wouldn't tell anyone for a while."

"The prideful asshole."

"Not just pride, anger, no, hate."

"Hate makes the world go round, except it makes it go backwards."

Blake giggled a bit, "Truer words have never been spoken."

"Look I've gotten caught up in some stuff right now, such as people recognizing the logo on my new uniform and asking if they can sign up so I'll call you back if I need anything before I get back to the apartment. Tell Sylvia I said hi," Ilia spoke louder over the bustle of one of the more crowded market areas of the sprawling city.

"Good night Ilia. Stay safe and watch out for the Fang."

"Will do Blake. You too."

Once again Blake was left with her thoughts but before they could stray back to her team and her partner she occupied herself with navigating the rooftops and backstreets.

* * *

Alton woke to a joystick digging into his back. Glancing around he realized he was sprawled in the pilots seat of the Adder with Nadia curled up in his lap in a spot of early morning sunlight. Barely moving to keep the joystick out of his back he settled back down without waking her. The buzzing of his scroll interrupted his study of her sleeping face.

"Who's this?" Alton whispered.

"Hey Chief, it's Carla. Is Nadia with ya?"

"Yep, she's right on top of me. Try to keep it down will you, she's asleep."

"Aha! I always knew there was something between you two. So when did it happen?"

"Last night, we kissed, I bit her, we kissed some more."

"Kinky. Anyways what was I calling about? Oh yeah! Winter wants us to stay with Ruby, Yang, and all them. Something about the ship having a spy aboard and threats against any hunters in the kingdom. Anyways we're staying with the captains alcoholic hookup. Should be fun eh?"

"I guess. Listen I'm probably gonna make breakfast as soon as Nadia gets up and then we'll probably fly over there if you're already there."

"It's noon bro, move like brunch if anything. But yeah we're here, been playing some video games with Ruby and Yang. Tiphany swapped some recipes that Weiss learned from her butler, something about cookies. What's that babe?" Carla paused to listen to Tiphany for a second, "Tiph says pics or it didn't happen as far as you and Nadia."

Alton rolled his eyes before snapping a picture of Nadia passed out on his legs and sending it to Carla and Tiphany.

"Happy?"

"She just squealed so I guess so. Weiss just d'awed. This is hilarious. Also I guess I owe Tiph a hundred lien."

"I hate you guys so much. Oh yeah I just remembered something to do with bets, tell Weiss she owes me two hundred lien she'll know what it's about."

"Sure thing Boss."

"Since when do you call me Boss?"

"Since now, I like to mix it up a bit. Well I've got to go Yang just got her ass handed to her and I'm up next to take on the reigning champ so you two have fun with that hangover and I'll see you in an hour or two. Peace out!"

Alton closed his scroll and went back to examining his sleeping girlfriend's form her tattoo particularly. Moving her hair out of the way of the ink taking up the right half of her head he saw that the black ink was actually more of a dark purple which contrasted well against the dark blue hair that made a transition to white at the tips. He worked his hands down and traced the shape of her lips remembering them against his the night before. Down further he found red marks against her pale neck and blushed realizing he had made them. He continued to admire her toned body particularly the way it fit against him with the rise and fall of her breath. She began to stir after a while and sitting up she stretched before blinking sleepily and looking straight into Alton's eyes.

"Hey," Alton said meeting Nadia's navy blue gaze.

"Hi," Nadia muttered still half asleep, "So if I just woke up and I'm on top of you does that mean I fell asleep on top of you last night?"

"Seems like it. We're in the Adder's cockpit if you didn't realize."

"I noticed. How'd you like the joystick in your back?" Nadia noticed the position Alton was in.

"Didn't notice it until I woke up. How did you sleep?"

"Like a log, that liquor knocked me out cold."

"Good, would you mind getting up so I can make us some breakfast?"

"Nope, you're warm," Nadia closed her eyes sleepily and a smirk came to her face.

"In that case you're coming with me!" Alton stood and lifted his partner onto his shoulders so she was wrapped around the back of his head.

"Woo! You think you're so strong dontcha?"

"You're still drunk."

"And you're still handsome."

"Can't disagree there. What do you want?"

"As long as it's not cereal or grain based I'm fine."

"Oatmeal's out the window then. How about an omelette?" Alton asked already cracking an egg in the small kitchenette.

"Sure, slice up some ham and put it in there how I like it."

"You're the boss."

"No you are, I'm just giving a suggestion."

"Whatever you say, you want cheese on it too?"

"Why the hell not? We got any chocolate milk in that fridge?"

"Probably," Alton stopped down with her still precariously balanced on his shoulders to check the mini fridge finding that there was a jug of chocolate milk.

"You want any fruit with it?"

"You can have something but I'll settle for just the omelette for now. Maybe something later," Nadia yawned again and rubbed her head up against Alton's shoulder.

"You're getting a bit heavy, mind getting down?"

"Nah, you're too comfy. Maybe in a bit."

"I'll drop ya," Alton shook his arms to loosen her causing her to drop a few inches.

"Ah! You dick. You drop me I'm taking you down with me!" Nadia clutched to his neck tighter.

"You sure you're a cobra? You seem a lot like a constrictor."

"Fuck you."

"I might take you up on that some time," Alton twisted his head to kiss her cheek leaving her blushing as he finished making their breakfast.

They sat down on the edge of the ramp to see the now risen sun and get some fresh air as they ate. Alton opened up his scroll and opened up the news channel to see if their accomplishments the night before were being reported on.

"Last night there were two affiliated incidents on opposite sides of town that were put a stop to thanks to the work of three intrepid hunters and two members of the newly public Pack. In the Sea district a shooting happened at a club but luckily the shooters who were members of the White Fang hoping to pin the blame of the mostly Faunus clubs deaths on the anti Faunus group known as Alpha Sapiens but thanks to the efforts of two nearby hunters from Atlas who will remain anonymous they were stopped and apprehended with minor injuries and no civilian casualties. On the other side of town a small bar owned by members of Alpha Sapiens was almost bombed but the plot was foiled by Pack members Ilia Amitola from Menagerie and Haven student Sun Wukong. The acts of these four are credited as stopping mass hostilities between the White Fang and Alpha Sapiens. In related news the headmistress of Shade academy was reportedly assassinated by a White Fang operative last night. The perpetrator has yet to be caught."

"Well look at that 'hunters from Atlas who will remain anonymous' I guess that's us. Seems we did good," Alton laughed at how they'd been referred to on the news.

"We sure did. I'm guessing Ilia and Sun are the two who that girl was talking about," Nadia shrugged.

"So Carla called before you woke up, she said Winter ordered us to stay with Ruby and Yang for a while because of the threat of a spy aboard the ship. We should probably fly over and get settled in."

"Yeah we should, welp I guess I'd better get her fired up. Come on I'll show you how to get the engines started," Nadia stood up and set her now empty plate in the kitchenette before proceeding into the cockpit with Alton right behind her.

* * *

Alton and Nadia had reached the house at one in the afternoon and by then everyone had gathered there for the announcement that Qrow was going to make.

"Good we're all here. Team ANCT, Ruby, Yang, Ice Queen-"

"Hey!"

"As I was saying, Nora, Ren, Noodle boy, Oz, and lastly my drunken self. We're all here because we've got a bit of an issue but first a recap, we all know what's going on maidens, reincarnation, Salem and all?" Everyone nodded, "Good that's the hard part out of the way. Now our mission is to retrieve the summer maiden from wherever she may be and all my sources including old Leo himself point to my sisters tribe. Now how are we going to find them you may ask? Well we already know thanks to my niece here," Qrow patted Yang's shoulder, "They're in the Fire Gulf and that's where we're going. I'm going to contact Raven, use Yang as a bargaining chip to talk to her and then somehow convince her to give up the maiden or we take her by force which is the less than ideal scenario. We don't need everyone to come so Noodle Boy and company, you're staying here to make sure nothing bad happens here which is rather unlikely knowing you three. The rest of us including Oscar are going to handle negotiations. Any questions? No? Good. Now if you'll excuse me I need to restock on some whiskey. We're leaving tomorrow."

 **Authors notes:**

Boredom. A group of extremely energetic highly trained killing machines worst enemy.

The best gift for any gearhead or vehicle lover is some new hardware or in this case two entirely new engines.

Lewd camouflage. (That's what I'm calling Carla and Tiphany. Because one's green and the other is tan.)

You wanna meet a girl you've got to go through her dad first.

The Pack has officially been revealed to the public.

The White Fang frown upon interracial relationships which will be expanded upon later.

Oh I wonder who this Faunus girl pretending to be in the White Fang is?

What the Fang are attempting to do is to stage a gunfight between themselves and Alpha Sapiens using Faunus who have willingly had their Faunus traits surgically removed to pretend to be humans they also planned on killing Faunus civilians in the crossfire to stir up support for their cause.

Hey recurring side characters!

Hey it's *gasp* Blake! Who could've guessed?

May as well drink now that the fights over.

Penny and Ruby will continue to rebuild their friendship back to its level before Penny's temporary death.

Creepy old dude spouts ancient prophecy trope.

Creepy old place where lots of people died trope.

And the big reveal, they've liked each other this whole time! (I'm calling this one Afterburner and if you don't know what that is look it up and you'll get it)

You're related to someone who attempted self genocide and it may well be your sister you didn't know you had!

All will be explained in time.

Blake again! Because she needs more explanation. Plus Sun and Ilia because they're here too.

Back to Afterburner! But they've been sleeping in the cockpit and Alton can't help but look at his cute snake girlfriend curled in his lap.

Everyone's made bets on relationships.

"Pics or it didn't happen"

Cute breakfast fluff!

Snake jokes!

They're so cute together!

News flash asshole! You were the anonymous hunters the whole time!

The headmistress of Shade is dead, remember this.

Big meeting about an upcoming mission, time to meet Raven yada yada but there will be shenanigans. Now Uncle Qrow needs a damn drink.

Thanks to everyone who reads this especially the people who follow and favorite! Even more thanks to the peeps who leave a review to help me out with some positive feedback and/or helpful criticism.

Until next, chapter peace out.


	13. Meeting the Neighbors

"All weapons and supplies aboard and accounted for?"

"Aye aye!"

"All hunters and huntresses aboard and accounted for?"

"I think Carla and Tiphany are making out in the engines but yeah we're all here."

"Thanks for the heads up Yang. I swear to the gods if those two make a mess on my new engines I'm gonna have them both fixed," Nadia snarled and slid down the ladder amidst the bustle of everyone loading ammunition and dust aboard the Adder for their trip halfway across Mistral.

Alton snickered at Nadia going into the engines because he knew that Carla and Tiphany were actually making out in her seat in the cockpit.

"I still don't get why I can't bring my bike," Yang complained to Qrow who was slumped half hazardly in one of the passenger seats.

"We're going to be on the Fire Gulf, it's made up of about four things: obsidian, Grimm, lava, bandits, and dust. Those being the only things out there even close to civilization there will be no roads to drive on and if I manage to convince your bitch of a mother to talk to us we won't even have to land on solid ground in the first place."

"You really have no trust in her at all do you?"

"Not a damn ounce. She's tried to kill me about five times since you were born and countless times before then and now that she's chieftain if the tribe she sees me as competition to the title even though she knows well enough I don't want the thing."

"What was she like? Before she had me."

"She hates my guts that's for sure. She always was a hardass but eventually she came out of her shell if only to Summer and Tai. At first it was just Summer but eventually Tai started moping about how unlovable he was and I think she saw that as a challenge to be honest. Eventually we graduated and kind of just move in with Tai and we're one happy family and it was great even when you were born. She wasn't that bad of a mother while she was there but one day I guess she snapped and her and Tai ended up having an argument and then she goes outside for some fresh air so she can cool off and doesn't come back. I don't really know why to this day."

"I guess we'll just have to find out. She must have known that her decision would come back to bite her and I'm going to bite hard."

"Sure thing kiddo, be warned though she'll try to guilt trip ya. Same old bullshit about the strong surviving."

"I've got it, thanks for the tip."

"No problem, now let me get some damn sleep, I won't be able to negotiate shit if I'm hungover. Oz! Wake me when we get there," Qrow flopped into one of the pullout bunks built into the wall of the cargo hold.

"O-okay Mr. Branwen," the farm boy responded timidly.

"I've told you not to call me that, it's just Qrow. I'm not a teacher anymore."

"Sorry," Oscar sat down in a seat below the bunk Qrow was already passed out in.

"So this kid is the reincarnation of your old headmaster?" Carla asked Ruby who was polishing Crescent Rose against the frame of the ramp.

"Yep. It was pretty weird to find out at first but I'm used to it now, you'll be able to tell when their personalities switch, his voice kinda changes."

"Not the weirdest thing I've seen."

"What's the weirdest then, because we've seen some crazy stuff."

"Let's see, there was that time we fought a Grimm with a human head but it turned out I was just hallucinating from blood loss and it was just a beowolf, there was the bonemiser we fought out in Vacuo once though that was real."

"Bonemiser? I've never heard of it."

"It's one of the few Grimm that actively hunts things that aren't human. It's kinda like a giest but it only uses bones and it builds a body out of them, the one we fought was only skulls for some reason."

"Creepy, almost like this Grimm parasite we fought before the Vytal festival that turned a few taijitu into a hydra looking thing."

"Grimm just keep gettin weirder, speaking of which what d'you think that Grimm you helped my team kill was, they've told me about it and I've seen footage but I was in the middle of some surgery at the time."

"It wasn't anything I've ever seen before. What we've heard from the scientists looking through the data in the Fangs base it was some kind of experiment on Grimm control."

"Damn White Fang, they just won't quit."

Ruby folded Crescent Rose and holstered it before pushing herself off the wall, "They won't. Not until they've been beaten into submission or they get what they want."

"This is what happens when revolutionaries get out of hand. I just hate fighting people, we were designed to fight Grimm and grow stronger from it, fighting people just leaves us mentally weaker. We're stronger than just about everyone and I of all people forget that most, I've killed and sometimes I just can't handle that."

Ruby set her hand on Carla's shoulder, "I haven't killed someone, I don't know what you're going through but sometimes there are times when you need to do something no matter how bad it may seem at the time. You're not a weapon and the remorse you feel shows that so chin up, we've got a mission to go on," Ruby stepped away to check some baggage that was being loaded by Alton and Yang leaving Carla with a small smile on her face from the young huntresses kind words.

"Carla!" Carla spun to see her girlfriend running up the ramp to embrace her.

"Babe we literally saw each other a few minutes ago."

"So what? I just wanted to hug you."

"Who me? Seventy five percent metal and twenty five percent lanky, boney, mess?"

"Yep, because you're my lanky, boney, mess."

"Gods I love you."

"Don't go throwing that L word around just yet though."

"Lesbian?"

"That's just you. I meant love you dunce."

"Sorry I know this is still a bit of a trial phase."

"It's no problem Carla, you're cute and there's definitely something here, we just need to figure out what."

"That's true Tiph. Thanks for dealing with me for now. Let's just take our time until then."

"Knowing you that may be difficult," Tiphany smirked.

"You saying I'm impatient?" Carla feigned insult.

"No, I would never! It's just that in the years I've spent keeping your sweet ass out of trouble I've learned that you're not one to wait for things when you can just get it yourself."

"That... yeah that's true."

Tiphany smiles victorious, "I know you better than you know yourself."

"That is also true. Think quick! What's my favorite food?" Tiphany jumped at Carla's sudden question.

"Um, barbecue ribs?"

"Damn you're good. What about my favorite color?"

"Easy, green."

"Favorite martial arts style?"

"Kickboxing."

"Fuck. Yeah you know me better than I do. Your turn."

"What's my favorite color?"

"Violet."

"I'll let it pass, it's actually indigo but I can't expect you to know the exact difference. Favorite food."

"Cheesecake, you must have at least twenty different _favorite_ recipes for it though."

"That is not true! Okay, yeah it is. What about my favorite animal?"

"Would it be vain to say hyena?"

"Yes."

"Damn. Uh, cat?"

"Nope, it's snow leopards. As in the kind of Faunus I am."

"Of course it is."

They've got fluffy tails, okay? I should know. Ya wanna feel it?" Tiphany flicks her tail towards Carla.

"What?" Carla blushes not comprehending the blondes offer.

"I said, do you want to touch it? It's pretty fluffy. Come on Carla feel. Feel Carla. It's fluffy."

Carla hesitantly reaches out and strokes her partners tail with her left hand, "That is pretty soft, I guess I never noticed before."

"Told you so."

* * *

"Cinder, how long are we going to be staying in this dusty old warehouse? I know we need to lay low this soon after Beacon but it's been a few months we should be able to go out in public with some disguises," Emerald was sitting at a small metal table in an empty warehouse in the middle of the Sea district of Mistral.

"One week. One week left until we can follow through with our plan to burn Haven to the ground and leave Mistral to the Grimm."

A side door clanged shut startling Emerald and Cinder to draw weapons on whoever had entered.

"Hold on you two crazy women, if you wanted to kill me you could at least do it when I don't know who's doing it," Emerald and Cinder relaxed as Mercury dropped a large bag of food onto the table along with a pack of cards and a few wallets, "I've got food, entertainment, and cash in case we'd like to stop stealing for a while."

"Nice job Mercury, this should tide us over until the next step of our plan."

"And what's that exactly?"

Cinder smirked and lighting a small flame on the top of her finger burned a hole in the map of Mistral spread on the table right where Haven was.

"Does that answer your question?"

Mercury glanced to the flame still atop his employers hand back to the map before nodding.

"Good. We do it in a week, with or without Adams forces. I'm sure you two can take down their outer defenses and start a few fires easy enough, can't you?"

"That's grunt work. Adam will pull through and they can handle that, I want to deal with Haven itself," Emerald snarled, "They cast me out when all I wanted was somewhere to sleep for the night, they taunted me for even asking for such a basic need."

"Yes, and now you'll be able to take your revenge," Cinder grinned turning back to the map.

"All thanks to you."

"Indeed."

* * *

"Battle stations!"

"Ma'am almost all squadrons are reporting attacks of some kind, even the villages are taking fire!"

"Damn them! Man all weapons, prepare boarding crews we're taking the fight to the Fang," Raven left the helm of her airship the Bloodied Broadside and transformed into a bird before flying out a window in the direction of the small fleet of White Fang ships that were attacking her fleet and the village below them.

Transforming above the deck of the largest ship Raven drew her blade and beheaded the first Faunus to move towards her. Her eyes glowed through the mask with anger at the fools who dared attack her tribe.

"Surrender and lead me to your captain and I may just spare your lives!" Raven wiped the blood from her sword glaring at the armed crew around her daring a single one to attack her.

"Get her!" A single cry led the crew to swarm the bandit chieftain who welcomed the chance to cut down the men who had attacked one of her villages.

A knife flew past her ear but she smoothly dodged the clumsy attack before catching the man who wielded the blade on the tip of her sword. Spinning around she quickly switched to a fire dust blade and stabbed it into the wooden deck before flipping over the ring of soldiers surrounding her and flying away after transforming leaving the ship to burn as the flames quickly spread. Back aboard her own ship she began to give more orders.

"Spare them no mercy! Open fire with everything we have."

"Ma'am one of their ships is landing troops in town the guards won't be able to hold that many alone and we can't fire that close to our people."

"Then we'll land too, tell the Dark Claw to ram them and board. Take no prisoners."

"Understood."

"Get me on a line with Vernal too while you're at it."

"Yes ma'am. Patching you through now."

A shaky hologram appeared on the main viewscreen showing Raven's lieutenant.

"Raven what's going on? I'm getting reports of attacks on all our captured settlements and we're dealing with eight ships here I don't know how long we can hold out without the rest of our forces."

"Retreat."

"But the village-"

"Forget the village! It's one of many and it's significance is nothing compared to the others that need you more. Do what you can but I need you here as soon as possible I have reason to believe this isn't the last attack. Rally your forces, we need as many men as we can get."

"Yes ma'am. You heard the lady let's turn this ship around, get all our ships back here! Yes the fighters too! Get as many of the villagers aboard the landing craft we'll need them," Vernal shouted orders at her own crew when screams drowned her out, "The hell is that?! Brace for impact!" The hijacked CCT signal cut out when whatever had rammed Vernals ship made impact.

* * *

"Alton! Radar's got multiple unidentified ships over this ridge there's supposed to be a village there and by these heat readings multiple fires," Nadia shouted to her partner from the cockpit.

Alton ran into the room and looked over her shoulder at the screens, "Punch it, this might be an attack."

"Got it. Ludicrous speed!"

The Adder lurched forward suddenly shaking its passengers wildly but getting the ship over the small mountain ridge and into view of the two opposing fleets fighting over the small unnamed village.

"Shit! Everyone we've got White Fang ships and bandit craft in a skirmish ahead of us, ready weapons we've got a fight coming up."

"Hell yeah! I was hoping for some action now I can use my new weapon," Carla's new weapon, Libertas Lupus, was a pair of cleavers with shotguns built into the blades capable of merging to make a double barrel shotgun cleaver of twice the size or a shielded shotgun for breaching.

"Who are we supposed to fight though? The bandits or the White Fang?" Tiphany asked as she plugged a fresh battery into her railgun.

"The White Fang, duh. We're trying to get on the bandits good side," Weiss slid a dust cartridge into Myrtenasters chamber before sheathing it.

"Could somebody get this door open I need to make sure the bandits know we're on their side, for now at least," Qrow grumbled over the noise of many weapons being readied.

"I've got it, I've got it!" Ruby appeared in a cloud of rose petals from the opposite side of the ship to open the ramp to let her uncle out.

"Thanks, I'll see you kiddos later," Qrow smiled before dropping out the back of the Adder leaving the younger hunters to prepare for the battle they were about to jump into.

Qrow landed on the deck of Vernals ship without a single one of her crew noticing and still in bird form snuck into the bridge. The ruckus of the bridge was deafening with bandits shouting orders over radio and the rumble of the ships weapons being felt through the hull. Qrow's transformation back went unnoticed until he stepped over to Vernal and tropes her on the shoulder. The tattooed woman spun around drawing her weapons on the veteran hunter.

"Now there's no reason for that, I'm just here to visit some family. I was expecting you to welcome our help given your rather difficult situation," Qrow dismissively waved his hand out the window through which Vernal could see one of her four ships go down in flames its crew jumping over the sides in hopes of escaping the firey death they'd face otherwise.

"Who are you?" Vernal snarled puffing up her chest to make up for her lack in the height department in comparison to Qrow.

"You don't see the resemblance? I'm your bosses brother."

"Oh, Qrow. She wants you dead, you realize that don't you?"

"I do but you're in a tight situation and I happened to be passing through with a ship full of hunters so I thought, why not? So do you want our help or not? We can just as easily leave you to the Fang," Qrow took a sip of his flask as he looked out on the battle that was slowly tipping in the White Fangs favor.

"What do you want in return? Raven's told me about you and you never do anything for free except drink."

"Sounds like I have quite the reputation," Qrow raises his eyebrows, "It's simple, I want to have a talk with my dear sister, about the spring maiden specifically," Vernal flinched at Qrows mention of the maiden.

"We don't know anything about any maiden but if you want to talk to her so be it. You can help us out."

"It's settled then, just let me call for those reinforcements," Qrow pulled out his scroll and messaged Ruby telling her that they were free to engage.

"These bastards will be dealt with shortly. Have fun sitting in your cozy bridge," Qrow waved before transforming and flying into the battle where the Adder was already deep in the thick of it.

"Alton, heads up!" Nadia ducked under a bullhead on its way to the ground after she'd blown one of its wings off.

Alton rolled out of the way of the detonating transport ship before shifting Abbysus Ignis into its heavy form and unloading hundreds of incendiary rounds into the hull of one of the White Fang ships hovering just above the town square in the small village. Flames began to spread among the planks making up the airship and it slowly lost altitude before it collapsed onto the cobblestones in a pile of charred wood and mechanical parts leaving the crew to scramble for safety before the engines blew up. The screams of the crew members trapped in the flaming airship that was still trying to fly but only dragged intself along the ground before finally collapsing as the engines exploded. The crew that escaped drew their weapons and attempted to fend off the hunters that had brought them down. One Faunus with a mouth like a crocodile roared and charged Tiphany who had been providing covering fire for some escaping bandits who'd been wounded. The crocodile Faunus made to slash at Tiphany with a cutlass that many of the crew had but was knocked to the ground by Carla who had been watching from a nearby roof, her legs crushing the crocs collarbones and breaking his aura with the force of her landing. Tiphany nodded at her partner before going after the bandits to make sure they got to cover.

In the center of town was a clock tower that probably hadn't worked for decades and was now being used as a dock for the largest of the White Fang ships to unload its troops, Carla had other plans. She'd managed to climb the tower unnoticed as Weiss and Ruby managed to keep the soldiers from making much headway out of the tower being pinned down behind a stone fence by Ruby's sniper fire and being corralled into a line of summoned beowolves by Weiss using ice walls from her glyphs. Carla continued her climb and eventually reached the top where they were unloading but a simple rush in would be too difficult from her position.

 _"Now how would I get around them?"_

Carla thought before remembering her grappling hook and using it to swing under and onto the other side of the ship. Landing between two cannons both crewed she quickly drew her new weapons from their x shaped sheath across her back and fired at the gun operators one ducked and managed to not get hit while the other took a face full of doomsday shell leaving his face a gory mess and his skull shattered entirely.

"Man I love explosive rounds!" Carla vaulted the cannon on her left where the other operator had escaped and backhanded him with the blunt edge of Libertas Lupus leaving him unconscious at his post.

The guards at the top of the tower had taken notice of her and both of them wielding polearms rushed her. Carla grinned and transformed Libertas Lupus into its two handed mode, a massive five foot long cleaver with the shotguns on the spine of the blade. The guards backed off momentarily seeing the intimidating weapon she now held Carla saw her chance and took it. Pressing the advantage she swung the blade with reckless abandon snapping one of the guards polearms with the first strike and launching the other into the mast of the ship.

"I hope you like the taste of concrete," Carla smiled as she slapped the remaining guard off the ship with the flat of her blade, his screams echoing before the wet crunch on the pavement below.

Carla proceeded below decks where she found that no one was left aboard and proceeded to set up one of her handmade fire dust charges on the engine and lighting the fuse before stepping off the ship onto the tower where more White Fang were making their way down. Outside the echoes of Carla's weapon could be heard by Tiphany who took that as her cue to push from her position and into the tower. The rails of Fulgur Mortem elongated and became the magnetic chain for the bladed end while the stock shrank into the handle of its flail form. Swinging in wide arcs and allowing the magnetic tracking of the business end to do its job locking onto the metal of the White Fangs weapons making it much easier to entangle and shatter blades and guns. Once her opponents had been disarmed and a few lay crippled on the ground but four managed to have enough fight left in them to challenge her again.

"You really want to do this?" Tiphany raised her eyebrows in surprise at the four rather large soldiers who stood before her.

"We're not gonna let a runtish traitor like you make fools of us!"

"Traitor? To who? Your sense of pride?"

"You're a traitor to your own damn race!"

Tiphany's tail swished agitatedly, "So that's what it is. Well if it makes you feel better it's not a race thing for me, I just like kicking the asses of self righteous assholes like yourself!" Tiphany kicked high as she finished her sentence scoring a large bruise and a cracked jaw on the Faunus she'd been trash talking.

The Faunus unsheathed hidden claws in his fingers and roared in pain and anger before rushing her along with his comrades. Tiphany rolled her shoulders casually before ducking under a clumsy haymaker and launching the one who threw it out an already shattered window. Bringing her weapon into an overhead swing she transformed it mid swing and fired once it was level with the leaders chest leaving him half a lung and a heart short a second later. Shifting Fulgur Mortem again she swung it into the kneecap of her next opponent and then smashed his forehead in before he'd even hit the ground. Turning to face the last man the blast of a shotgun sounded and his head exploded from behind revealing Carla's silly grin behind his crumpling form.

"Nice entrance," Tiphany complimented her partner.

"Thanks, you handled those guys pretty well too. I did some redecorating upstairs, some new windows, cleared some walls, and repainted some sections a lovely red though there's still a bit of a mess to be cleaned up."

Tiphany laughed at Carla's recounting of the battle down the few floors between the ground and the burnt husk of the airship, "Sounds like a lot of work, we should go check on everyone else," Tiphany turned and waved for Carla to follow before leaving to see how the rest of the town was coming as far as clearing out the White Fang.

"We've got them on the run! Unload everything we have, we won't let them get away after this," Vernal snarled into the comms once the town had been cleared and the majority of the White Fang ships remaining had begun to retreat save the one that had been captured after being rammed and captured by one of Vernals ships.

Another volley of shells and bullets followed the retreating White Fang ships blasting new holes in their armor and knocking a few of their smaller gunships and bullheads from the air.

"That's good enough, let em run back home, tails between their legs like the dogs they are!"

"Not on our watch they aren't, absolute deterrent is a thing, ya know?" Nadia deadpanned over the comms as she unleashed a volley of the just airborne Adders missiles leaving the last remaining ships merely blasted out shells to fall to the earth.

"I like you hunter, ever considered becoming a bandit?"

"A bit but I'm military property and already a bit too dedicated to the hunter cause."

"A shame, we could use someone like you," Vernal turned to Qrow who had landed back aboard her ship once the battle had been finished, "Now, you said something about speaking to Raven?"

"I'd just like an audience is all, a deal specifically. Plus there's a rather angry huntress who'd like to have a few choice words with her as well."

"Who's this huntress then, I'd like to make sure she has no intentions to cause a scene in front of our leader, you understand."

"She's Ravens daughter."

"I'm surprised that anyone managed to meet her standards much less have a child with her. How do I know this is the truth?"

"Oh, you'll know."

"That was a good warmup for the day! Bashing a few heads around is always a good workout."

"Must you always be so excessive though Yang?"

"No, but it sure is a lot more fun!"

"I've gotta agree with Weiss on this one Yang, you do tend to get a little over the top when fighting people, I know our job is dealing with Grimm but please learn to show some restraint."

"Sorry little sis, sometimes I forget some people don't have auras."

"I have no such quandaries! I painted a building red today!"

"Carla! Tone it down a bit, we're trained killers we're not supposed to show remorse but Ruby's, well, she's young, innocent even, she just wants to help people, not hurt them," Tiphany scolded.

"Sorry, can't help it. I was a bit sickened too at first. We all were. But after, say the third or fourth mission against the White Fang when we were still training, we must have been, say, eleven, twelve maybe? But after throwing up in the middle of battle and taking a few bullets because of it we learned to not think of it that way, they're not people, not when they're trying to kill you they aren't. They're the enemy, and the enemy have no emotion, only determination to make you dead."

"They still have lives though, and with the White Fang it's worse because they think they're doing the right thing but they've just been led astray by a corrupt leadership using them to further their goals," Ruby protested.

"That's deep, but think of it this way, that village down there is full of innocent people, bandit or not they intended to slaughter them. So does that fix any problems you still have?"

"I guess, but that doesn't make me any happier about it."

* * *

"If you don't get your grubby little fingers off my ship I'm going to remove them from you!"

The bandit crew member that had been attempting to pry off one of the Adders heavy payload bombs scrambled away and drew a small knife he had at his belt.

"You come any closer I'll slit your throat!" He backed away defensively.

Nadia sighed and drew her pistol before casually aiming it at him causing him to drop his knife and run for cover.

"So you're the pilot of this ship?"

"Who's asking?" Nadia snarled turning to see Vernal with her arms crossed.

"Vernal, commander of this fleet, right hand to Raven Branwen. Tell me why you threatened my man."

"He was trying to steal one of the bombs of my ship, what's it to you?"

"I'm just surprised at how easily you threaten your new allies temporary as we may be, despite having your ship docked aboard my flagship and us providing you passage to our leader at your request. I don't care much for that man myself, he's just one internal transgression from exile or just getting killed by whoever he pisses off next."

"If they're not a civilian, a superior officer, or a friend I could care less what happens to some people specifically people who try to steal from me. I know how it is out here with you bandits, it's kill or be killed and I'm more of a kill kind of person, so tell me, what's your story?"

"You know my name, my position, and you still ask for more? I'm surprised."

"We're supposed to be allies, yes? I felt I should get to know you at least."

"Well I'll tell you some but only because you're fairly likable despite being a hunter. I'm an orphan, through no fault of my own I ended up alone and scared in my village after a Grimm attack. I was hiding under my families home staying so sill it hurt and the bodies of my parents on the floor above me had begun to smell, I was eight. I heard gunshots and knew that the bandits had come to pick what was left from the dying claws of the remaining Grimm. Eventually they found me but I didn't know that because the first thing I saw when I was dragged out of there kicking and screaming was Ravens nevermore mask and you know the first thing I did? I punched her! Right in the mask! I apparently made an impression on her because she took me in and gave me a position aboard her ship as her attendant, eventually I gained a higher place and became her lieutenant. So what about you hunter? What made you?"

"You want a plain answer? Scientists. I'm a lab rat. I was found in Mistral after my tribe was wiped out by one of our own leaving us two the only survivors because whoever did it didn't kill me. I was taken into an Atlas research program and became one of the few proud survivors of the experiment that altered our aura so that it grows stronger with each Grimm we kill."

"You're joking, right?"

"Afraid not."

"I always did think there was something fucked up about Atlas. Well at least you're on our side. What about your team? Same situation?"

"Yep, we've known each other pretty much our whole lives."

"I can respect that, having friends like that I mean, loyalty is hard to come by as is. Listen this is just a word of warning but I suggest you keep a close handle on your friend Yang, her mother is rather irritable lately since the loss of a rather valuable asset and I'd prefer if you don't set her off."

"Duly noted. When will we be meeting the great Raven Branwen anyways?"

"About an hour. You should just figure out your plans for negotiating with her until then because it will be difficult to say the least."

"Thanks for the tip, I'll make sure to pass it on."

"Don't take it lightly I don't exactly trust you but I believe in treating people how I'd like to be treated so I expect you to do the same."

"No need, I was planning on it anyways."

"I'm glad we understand each other then. See you around," Vernal waved and walked away to get back to commanding her fleet.

Nadia let out a deep breath and turned back to the Adder just to see the bandit from earlier back trying to steal a bomb again.

"You little shit!" The bandit flinched before making a break for it, "Get back here you! I'll chop off your fingers and pour lemon juice on the stumps!" Quickly drawing her pistol she fired two shots into both of his knees leaving him squirming in pain and scratching at the floor trying to crawl away.

"I'll let Vernal deal with you, thief," Nadia snarled before giving the man a hasty nose job with her heel and leaving him for someone else to handle.

* * *

The Fire Gulf was in full bloom unusually as it tended to be most active during the summer rather than winter. Lava flowed freely from many vents around the base of the countless larger volcanoes of all shapes and sizes. Charred remains of flora and fauna littered the ground some being slowly covered in more and more cooling lava leaving only smooth obsidian behind. All around plumes of smoke and ash rose into the sky and further towards the southern side of the gulf many smaller volcanoes were erupting violently causing a chain reaction up the coast. Grimm actively stalked the land and some pit beasts could even be seen where lava flows had destroyed spawning pits. Above the northeastern face of the largest of the active volcanoes in the area hovered the vast majority of the Branwen tribe fleet.

"How are the rest of our fleets doing?"

"We've only lost five small villages to the west and they only had a few bullheads and some smaller ships anyways, Vernal says that she almost lost but she was going up against some hijacked Atlesian ships but some hunters showed up and helped out," Ravens communications officer reported.

"Hunters? Somethings not right normally they would have let Vernal and the Fang wear themselves thin before coming in and cleaning out the survivors, why would they help us?"

"Ma'am Vernals fleet has arrived per your orders and we are receiving a communication request from an unidentified ship docked aboard one of hers."

"Patch it through."

"Hello dear sister! Weren't expecting to see me again so soon were you? Why don't you let me and my people come aboard for a talk?"

"Qrow! What are you doing here? Where's Vernal?"

"Vernal is fine, you should be worried about your territory as the White Fang seem to be determined to take it from you."

"You drunk bastard, what do you want?"

"I just want to talk, family matters and the like mostly, plus I hear that you have the Spring Maiden and I have a deal regarding her. So what do you say, you wouldn't go back on a deal I've already made with your lieutenant especially since we saved her and that crummy little village."

"You think I'm going to let you just waltz in here and get whatever you please? You're wrong, blow them from the sky!"

"Ma'am they're docked aboard Vernals ship if we fire we'll have to go through it to hit them!"

"Gah! Hail Vernal, I want to ask her what the hell she was thinking."

"Ma'am?" Vernals hologram appeared beside Qrows on the screen.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry Raven we were losing ships and men fast and there was no way we'd be able to escape quick enough but thanks to these hunters we managed to only lose one ship and keep the village, I had to agree to bring them to you in order to get them to help us though."

"I see. Fine, let them come aboard, no weapons though, you come unarmed or not at all."

"Thanks sis, you probably won't regret this but you've got a questionable moral code and I don't really know what you'd like so whatever. I'll see you in a bit," Qrows transmission cut off leaving Raven with the image of her brothers smug grin.

"Sometimes I forget why I made you my lieutenant in the first place."

"Because I'm an excellent tactician, a good fighter, and you see me as the daughter you never had?"

"The daughter I wish I had instead of the one I left behind."

"So it's true?"

"What's true?"

"You have a daughter? Qrow claims that she's one of the hunters with him."

"Ha! She actually did it. She found me. Took her long enough."

"Now listen, we're supposed to hand over any and all weapons on landing so I suggest you leave most of them here but if you've got anything you're willing to part with I suggest you bring it because they'll get suspicious if we don't bring anything. Also I'll be getting out first so if they try anything you'll know," Qrow explained to team ANCT and RW_Y as the Adder landed.

"I'll take some knives, that should be good right?" Nadia suggested.

"Yeah sure, now Yang, I know this is going to absolutely suck a massive load of shit for you but you are both a valuable bargaining chip and a good way to get under your mothers skin and guilt trip her."

"I know, I'm ready for this no matter how bad it is. I just want some answers."

"If you learn anything I don't know it'll be a surprise."

The ramp hissed open greeting Qrow with a good view of a dozen guns pointed at his head along with a couple of swords.

"No welcome home? I guess that's what I get for becoming a hunter instead of a bandit. Oh how mother would be proud. What's up guys, yeah it's me I'm back, no it's not permanent, yes I do look handsome as ever, no I don't plan on taking over, and yes I do think it's a bit warm for this time of year. Now, where's Raven?"

"First the rest get off and we make sure you don't have any weapons then you can talk to her," one of the guards pointing a comically large rifle at Qrow said.

"Alright that's your cue guys, come on out," the younger hunter and huntresses emerged from the ship with their hands raised slightly to show they had no weapons.

"Alright no funny business," four of the guards split from their formation and began frisking them for any hidden weapons.

"Now don't touch anywhere you'd regret if you value your fingers," Carla snarled when an overly eager bandit began searching Tiphany who smiled at her partners sentiment.

"You got anything in here?" the guard that had now moved on to Carla asked once he'd moved down to her shorts after sifting through her jacket pockets.

"Nothing you'd like to know about," Tiphany giggled as her partner squirmed uncomfortably and a small bulge grew in her pants that went unnoticed by the guard.

"Whatever, next."

The rest of the search went smoothly until they reached Nadia.

"These six are cleared but she's got something," the man searching Nadia pointed at a bump under her vest much to her satisfaction.

"Oh dang ya got me let me just reveal my massive collection of knives," Nadia shook her sleeves allowing at least five blades fall from each sleeve before moving on to pull others from various hiding places causing the guards jaw to drop at the sheer number of knives he hadn't noticed, "You guys go on ahead, this might take a while."

"Follow me."

The lead guard took them through a passage into a candlelit room near the rear of the large ship. Sitting in a luxurious chair at one end of the room was Raven with her mask on and her sword resting against her crossed legs. The bandit chieftain gestures to more seats lining the room before shooing away the guard who closed the door behind him.

"Qrow."

"Raven."

"I'd like to know why you came to speak with me but first I'd rather you introduce me to everyone you brought along on your foolish errand for Ozpin. It's a shame you never lear-"

"Ozpin is dead."

Raven didn't speak for a moment visibly shaken by the reveal despite her face being covered. Removing her mask Raven held her swords handle tightly making her knuckles white with the strain.

"What?" Raven hissed through her teeth.

"Ozpin. Is dead."

"But it's not that simple, is it? I can see it in your eyes, the old man always had a backup plan. We were one of them!"

"Oh he had a backup but I'm not telling you shit until I know you're on our side. Are you working with Salem?"

"Of course not! I wouldn't dare even speak to the witch."

"That's something at least. Have you worked with the White Fang recently?"

"Were you not paying attention to the fact that they attacked our fleets and burned some of our villages? Of course not!"

Qrow snorted before continuing, "Have you talked to a woman named Cinder?" Raven flinched at the mention of the false fall maiden.

"Ah, so you have?"

"I don't have to answer your questions, I definitely don't need to let you on my ship, and most importantly I don't need you to stay alive!" Qrow jumped from his seat and reached for where Harbinger was usually hung but only grabbed empty air, "But! I will humor you brother. For now," Qrow sat down again, "Yes I did speak with her, she made a show of threatening me into helping her with some grand plan to bring down the Mistrali government, flashy powers and all, even brought her underlings, some kids, one with mechanical legs and the other with illusions."

"Hmm, that's better than we'd hoped."

"Now it's my turn to ask the questions, I have precisely four. The first three go together, how and when did Ozpin die and what is his backup plan, the fourth is why did you bring _her_ here?" Raven looked directly at Yang both women's eyes the same bright red.

"You know exactly why I'm here, _mom_ ," Yang snarled slamming her prosthetic on the armrest of the chair she sat in.

"I'll deal with you later, now Qrow, answer my questions."

"It was during the Fall of Beacon, he had been in the vault with Amber, I trust you heard about her situation, but Cinder showed up with the half of Ambers powers she'd taken and finished the job before fighting Ozpin killing him with the full powers of the fall maiden."

"Destroyed by the thing he sought to protect, how ironic. So Cinder is working with Salem?"

"Yep."

"And Ozpin's plan?"

"The usual reincarnation."

"Reincarnation?" Raven asked in mock disbelief.

"He's thousands of years old, he's been dealing with the maidens since they came into existence. Same can be said for Salem. Every time he dies he comes back in someone else's body but their conscience is still in control and he needs to teach them the ropes. Right now it's a fourteen year old farm boy."

"If that's the state of things our best bet would be to either join Salem or kill ourselves and save her the trouble."

"If you hadn't run off he wouldn't have died in the first place. You betrayed us and left your own daughter and Tai on their own, now are you going to own up to it and try to fix your mistakes or are you going to keep breaking laws and stealing to keep this sorry excuse of a tribe afloat?"

"It's your tribe too! You're the one that left us! We were sent to learn to fight, to fight better than anyone else in the tribe and then we were supposed to come back and lead them back into the golden age we had during the Great War. You're the one that's a traitor, you got caught up in the issues of Vale and the rest of the kingdoms. You didn't come back. I remembered our goal at the last moment before I got stuck just like you. I left my own child and Tai behind to do my duty and if you don't think it broke my heart then you're just as stupid as I always thought."

"Rae," Qrow pleaded.

"Don't you Rae me you dumbass of a brother! You know full well what you did! You chose the affairs of a dusty old headmaster and his book club over your own family and tribe. You came here, to me, after these seventeen years, because you wanted something, and only because you wanted something, now tell me little brother, what the hell do you want from me so badly that you come here trying to use my own daughter to guilt trip me into helping you?"

"We need the s-" Qrow was drowned out by an explosion that left ears ringing and as everyone stumbled to their feet aboard the rocking airship the sound of klaxons cut through the chaos that had taken the place of the emotional family matters of moments before.

"Damnit! The Fang must be back for another ass whooping. Guard! Give these hunters their weapons and take them back to their ship, they'll help us fight off these damned terrorists."

Team ANCT, RW_Y, and Qrow were hastily handed their weapons before being led through the alarm filled passages back to the hangar where the Adder was docked and Nadia was dumping out a small pouch of throwing knives onto the table along with the dozens of others she had hidden on herself.

"Oh come on! I just finished getting these out!"

"No time to put them back, just get this thing in the air!" Qrow shouted over the roar of many of the bandits makeshift fighter craft taking off.

"Damnit! You! These better be here when I get back," Nadia spat at the young bandit who had been keeping track of all the knives she'd hidden who nodded out of fear more than anything.

"I'm coming with you," Raven strode onto the Adder somehow calm despite her anger only seconds ago, "It gets too boring on the bridge sometimes and I've found that men having their commander fighting alongside them helps for moral."

"I couldn't care less right now Rae. Get your dramatic ass on here," Qrow waved her aboard as Nadia strapped herself into the cockpit and the rest of team ANCT took up positions at their preferred gun emplacements.

"Hunter craft, be advised that we are not fighting the White Fang, we are under attack by massive numbers of Grimm both on the ground and in the air," the comms officer of Ravens ship warned Nadia.

"Now look where you got us Raven, your total lack of restraint has us fighting more Grimm than I wanted to today," Qrow smirked as he readied Harbinger in its scythe form.

"Would you two children shut up! It's both of your faults, it's my semblance's fault, it might even be partly Carla's semblance's fault, but if you two don't stop bickering I will turn this gunship around!" Nadia shouted over the twins from her position at the front of the ship causing them to go silent.

"We've got nevermore under us!" Tiphany shouted from the underside flak gun through the window of which a massive flock of nevermore could be seen swarming the bandit fleet.

The setting sun left the flash of firing weapons and the glow of flowing lava as the only sources of light and amidst the darkness of twilight the red glow of Grimm eyes could be seen dotting the sky and ground like stars. Hundreds of ships, stolen ships, retrofitted ships, patchwork ships, all parts of the fleet were fighting their hardest to hold off the Grimm onslaught, many losing or already lost.

"I need to help Vernal," Raven slid her mask back on before opening and jumping out of the door of the Adder.

"And she's gone, welp I guess I'll go after her. You kids deal with the Grimm however you like, just don't die. Especially not you three, Tai will kill me if either of you die and I'm sure Winter would do far worse if you died," Qrow gestured between his nieces and Weiss before transforming and pursuing his sister.

"Alright, everybody out. You too Alton. I can handle things up here but the camps on the ground are getting overrun and they could definitely use the help," Nadia ordered the remaining six young hunters all nodded in agreement.

"Good luck, I'll try to clear what of the sky I can on the way down, don't wait up," Alton saluted his partner before falling out of the ship backwards after the others.

"Aright girl, let's put on a show," Nadia spoke to her ship lovingly.

The Adder tore through clouds of Grimm with its arsenal, all guns blazing it even made short work of the more armored ground targets on strafing runs. On the less than solid and very hot ground the rest of team ANCT was covering the retreat of one of the many ground camps from the ever advancing Grimm hordes but little did they realize the Grimm were being pushed forwards by the chain reaction of almost every active volcano in the range erupting.

"Take cover!" Tiphany's warning came just in time for Carla and Alton to duck behind rocks that were nearly melted by a blast of molten metal spit by a salamander with bright red markings on its scaly carapace compared to the blander normal salamanders.

"Great! That's just great! My worst nightmares have manifested," Alton complained as his guns shredded a lunging beowolf.

"Alton quit complaining they're only dangerous in large numbers," Carla said remembering her own experience with the Grimm.

"Then what kind of numbers do you call that?" Alton pointed past the initial ranks of beowolves and ursa to an almost unending swarm of salamanders.

"I call those large numbers, yeah this is an issue."

As the first waves died away the salamanders began to draw closer pelting the landscape around their quarry with molten rock and metal infused with the fire and gravity dust of the landscape causing explosions and vortexes of fire and rubble. One of the dust projectiles hit a bullhead full of escaping bandits it's gravity dust contents launching the craft into the ground the resulting explosion shook the unstable ground and sent shards of its hull flying into bandits and Grimm alike. The Adder roared overhead dropping a large load of bombs onto the salamanders sending chunks of Grimm flying and igniting the dust inside of them causing a chain of firey explosions to spread throughout the Grimm.

"Woo! That's what I'm talking about! Let's clear out the rest of these bastards," Alton fired Abyssus Ignis's heavy mode into the sea of monsters tearing through them like a hot knife through butter.

Carla charged an alpha ursa and shot a hole through its chest before diving through and tackling a creep to the ground leaving it to fade away to face a small group of beowolves. Tiphany continued to provide covering fire from an only slightly The last of the bullheads eventually got away with the remaining bandits when the Adder reached them and its hatch opened to reveal team RW_Y inside waiting for them.

"Get in! More Grimm are showing up every second and this mountain's about to blow!" Yang shouted at the members of team ANCT not already aboard.

Climbing aboard the ascending ship they saw that indeed any inch of the ground not covered in lava was populated by Grimm.

"That's the most Grimm I've ever seen," Carla gasped.

"Yeah even compared to all those we saw on that mission last week those were nothing compared to this," Tiphany looked through the scope of her railgun to get a better look at the ridiculous numbers of Grimm.

"Guys look!" Nadia called everyone up to the cockpit through the window of which they could see a crack opening up in the side of the volcano which quaked violently now.

Through the chasm lava sprayed and coated the land around it but it cooled quickly giving way to the viscous and slow flowing liquid of a spawning pit that had lain dormant beneath the volcanoes for years. Immediately the pit began to spawn Grimm left and right the ravenous young Grimm attacking each other in their hunger.

"Holy shit," Alton whispered in awe.

Suddenly a thick swarm of airborne Grimm flew out of the pit and were immediately whipped into a frenzy by the amount of fear radiating from the fleet above them and attacked a large transport ship the bandits had stolen months ago. The ships engines were destroyed almost instantly and any crew on deck were torn to pieces leaving the huge airship to crash to the ground in a massive fireball that incinerated the spawning pit as it smashed directly into the huge opening. The Grimm were destroyed in the explosion but a wave of nervous anticipation went through every bandit and the few hunters watching. The smoke cleared revealing an empty chasm with only the typical layered obsidian of the volcanic wasteland below. A sigh of relief was uttered by all before it was replaced with terror as the obsidian shifted and spread revealing massive insect like wings stretching from the ground. Suddenly the ground shook and the chasm was torn open revealing a massive winged cockroach at least two hundred feet long. A deafening hiss escaped the roach's slimy maw as it took to the sky and caused chaos among the fleet. It's barbed legs hooked into the hull of a smaller warship the roach almost as big as the ship. Hissing again the monster spat a glob of sizzling fluid onto the ships deck. It was soon realized to be acid as it began to eat through the metal quickly. The beast took to the air once again and landed clumsily on another airship and hit the craft clean in half with its jagged mandibles dripping with acid. The creature hovered in the midst of the fleet with all guns trained on it. In the moment it took for the few seconds it had taken to destroy two ships to be comprehended all guns in the entire fleet opened fire on the giant roach Grimm. The buzzing wings of the insect crumpled like paper under the barrage leaving only its shell to protect it from the cannon fire. Left flightless the monster scuttled into the chasm from which it spawned and escaped into one of the hundreds of lava tubes crisscrossing the area.

"What do we do now?" Ruby glanced around at everyone else aboard the Adder "We can't really kill it when it's underground."

"We go after it then. Stay in threes, Nadia stay up here and keep an eye out for it if it comes back up. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, you three are together and me, Tiph, and Carla will stick together. If we reach a branch in the tunnels we split up. Got it?" Alton decided.

"Yep, let's go team!" Ruby shouted enthusiastically before jumping out of the now barely hovering airship and using her semblance to reach the tunnel where she waved for everyone to follow her.

"Alright, if anyone sees anything at all make sure to get our attention, and Carla you should take the lead you've got the best low light vision," Tiphany playfully pushes her partner ahead of the loose formation the six had taken.

"Hey Nadia, can you hear me?" Alton called his partner through his scroll.

"A bit fuzzy but yeah I hear you. What's up?"

"Can you try and see where this thing is with your semblance?"

"Nope, the rock is interfering, it must be pretty deep. I'll just make sure it can't escape out here. Stay safe."

"You too," Alton hesitated before hanging up the cal and following the rest of his team into the pitch black tunnels.

* * *

"That was unexpected. Qrow I hope your hunters can handle this or that thing is going to come back for seconds and I'm not sure we can take another attack like that," Raven spoke to her brother as she surveyed her damaged fleet and looked through casualty reports from the massive Grimm attack, "We lost at least five of our larger ships in that and well over two dozen bullheads and fighters."

"The kids are competent and better than we were at their age, they'll be fine. Now can we get back to discussing our deal?" Qrow asked irritably.

"Ma'am a bullhead is approaching from the east, they're ignoring our hails."

"Do we have a visual on it?"

"Yes, our scouts are saying it's just a standard bullhead. Wait, scratch that, there's a emblem on the front of it," the officer who had addressed raven paused for a moment to allow more information to be relayed, "The markings look like a pair of red curved swords."

"Cinder."

"What!" Qrow snapped.

"It's Cinder! I told you she's contacted me before and that's exactly what her bullhead looked like. She's probably the cause of that Grimm attack if what you said about her working for Salem is true."

"You talk to her and keep her busy but no matter what don't let her get what she wants."

"Fine, but you owe me a serious explanation of what you want afterward, no tricks."

"Whatever, just don't give her _anything_."

The bullhead was allowed to land on the open deck of Ravens ship where she stood waiting with her mask on and Vernal by her side. The side door of the bullhead slid open allowing Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury to disembark.

"I see you brought your pawns once again Cinder," Raven spoke unfazed by the presence of the teens.

"And you yours," Cinder said in a mimicked tone about Vernal.

"What do you want Cinder? As you can see we're rather busy dealing with a recent Grimm attack, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you? Perhaps your mistress Salem?" Cinder flinched at the realization that Raven knew her relation to Salem.

"Whatever do you mean, dear chieftain?"

"Don't play coy with me, I know you work for Salem, I know she controls the Grimm, I know what you're after, and you're not getting it."

"Oh? But I haven't even said anything yet. It's a shame really, you'd benefit so much from a partnership with our mistress but if you'd like to take the difficult path I can always come back when you are much weaker and simply take what we want."

"The Branwen tribe will not bow to your dark mistress nor will we give into your idle threats. You should probably leave, my men are on orders to fire on you should you try anything now."

"They wouldn't, not at the cost of your own life."

"You obviously don't know my men. Only the strong survive here as you've seen, and the only strong death is a sacrifice for the gain of your allies."

"You're suicidal."

"No, I merely care more for the livelihood of my people than my own."

As the two women continued to speak they were interrupted by the slamming of a door opening onto the otherwise empty deck. In the doorway stood Nadia who glared at Cinder with suspicion and rage.

"Who are you?" Nadia shouted reaching for her weapon cautiously.

"You should tell your crew to mind their tongue lest I cut it out, Raven. If anything I should be asking you, stranger."

"You first! I know you from somewhere and I just can't place it!"

"Hmm, maybe if you tell me your name it may spark my memory," Cinder said through teeth gritted with annoyance.

"Nadia Cobalt, lone survivor of the Lost Clans of Mistral!" Cinder's single eye opened wide in shock at Nadia's declaration.

"It's not possible. Show me the right side of your head!" Cinder snarled.

Nadia turned and showed Cinder her tattoo, "You know who I am don't you?"

Cinder nodded her suspicion being confirmed with seeing the tattoo, "Yes. Yes I do, little sister."

 **Authors notes:**

Cliffhanger, cuz fuck you!

Sibling rivalry, always a fun time.

Raven's gonna be a bit different in this just because I feel she shouldn't be uncaring about Yang she just had some other motives.

Inter team bonding and a little bit of fluff.

The White Fang are attempting to conquer Mistral by attacking bandit tribes and taking over villages to gain a better foothold against the military.

Woo, slightly clunky fight scenes!

Carla absolutely kicks ass with her new weapons, plus the explosive shotgun shells are an actual thing in real life but significantly more devestating because dust.

Nadia will stab a bitch.

Vernal backstory when Roosterteeth? Oh right she's dead. Fuck canon, amiright?

I love the trope of the one person with way too many weapons having to take them all out and having to leave before they finish.

I hope that Raven talk have you some feels because even I got some.

Yay another fight, it's Grimm this time.

Alton _really_ hates salamanders and for good reason.

Rolling thunder biatch!

Flying roaches are scary as hell normally but a giant one that can spit acid and bite airships in half is worse. Fun fact: a cockroaches bite strength is 300 times more than a humans if they were as big as us.

Time for claustrophobia: the fanfic.

And they were sisters. Oh my god they were sisters.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter even though it took a while for me to write. As always follows and favorites are appreciated and I just love getting reviews to see what you think of this fic.

Until next chapter.


	14. Tunnel Hunting is a Blast

"So which direction do we go now?" Carla asked her leader as she looked around at the six way split in the tunnels, some going down and some going up.

"Hell if I know, anybody got any ideas?" Nobody said anything as they all considered possibilities.

"If we split up it will be more dangerous and there are probably Grimm down here now that it's been a few minutes since the battle so whichever direction has the most Grimm I guess. Under normal circumstances I'd suggest we track it but Blake was the only one of us with and training in that."

"Nadia was our tracker so that definitely gets rid of that option. Tiph, any ideas?"

"I'm glad you asked because I don't actually."

"Yang, Weiss?"

"Nope."

"Sorry, I don't know a whole lot about situations like this."

"Damn, I guess we just guess and hope we find it."

"Eeny, meeny, miny, mo!" Carla pointed to the third tunnel on the left that sloped steeply down into the volcano.

"That one it is, let's move out."

After the brief stop the six hunters started their search down the steep tunnel. About a hundred feet in it began to grow hotter and large indentations started showing up in the walls and ceiling of the tunnel.

"What d'you think these holes are?" Carla asked Tiphany who had been examining a particularly deep one.

"Bubbles of lava maybe that popped once it cooled leaving this open area that was bored through by another lava flow later on."

"Nope, well not all of them," Ruby corrected.

"Then what are they?" Carla asked, curious.

"Dens. Traps specifically. They're dug by the Tsuchigumo a spider Grimm native to Vacuo, Mistral, and Menagerie, specifically the more tropical areas. They're big hairy spiders but their bodies are more mammal than arachnid and doesn't have any shell and their head is a mix of a spiders and a tigers," Ruby explained remembering the Grimm from the guide she'd bought.

"Ugh, I hate spiders," Weiss exclaimed avoiding as many of the holes as she could from then on.

"They're just bugs Weiss," Yang teased.

"They're arachnids and they're not gross, just disturbing. Too many legs."

"If those Grimm dug these holes then where are they?" Alton asked.

"I dunno, probably went to the surface during the battle or went somewhere else before we got here I guess?" Ruby answered.

"Maybe."

The continued walking for a few more minutes and it continued to grow hotter and the tunnel continued sloping downward. Suddenly Tiphany stopped walking.

"What's up Tiph?" Carla asked.

"I don't know, I hear something but I can't tell what it is or where it's coming from, it's like a scratching at the back of my mind."

"I hear it too," Alton said straining his hearing to try and get a direction on the strange noise.

"Yeah now that you mention it so do I," Carla realized.

"And none of us do so it must either be really far off or really quiet," Weiss commented.

"It's getting louder, and it's coming from behind us."

Carla looked up into the darkness where Tiphany said the noise was coming from her night vision giving her an extra few hundred feet of clear vision on everyone else.

"Holy shit," Carla whispered realizing that the darkness behind them was squirming and pulsing with limbs.

"What do you see?" Tiphany asked looking back up the tunnel where Carla was looking.

"Grimm," Carla answered.

"Let's shed some light on the subject," Yang fired a flare from Ember Celica that flew into the darkness before lighting everything in an eery red glow revealing hundreds of tsuchigumo crowding the passage all of their crimson eyes snapping open at the sudden light.

"Holy shit!" Alton shouted in surprise drawing Abbysus Ignis and firing into the wall of spider Grimm behind them as they surged forward.

"Fuck fuck fuck! Run!" Carla turned and shouted to Ruby and Weiss who were ahead of them.

"Time to go Ruby!" Weiss shouted drawing Myrtenaster and grabbing her partners hand pulling her leader along with her.

All six hunters ran screaming down the tunnel pursued by hundreds sets of eight scrabbling feet and hundreds of pairs of salivating mandibles. Down the tunnel an orange glow slowly grew in brightness until they reached a massive cavern with streams of lava flowing from cracks in the high walls and gaps in the floor. Turning Alton fired Abbysus Ignis's heavy form into the swarm but every tsuchigumo he killed was replaced by two more.

"Weiss! We need a wall!" Weiss looked at Alton and nodded running forward to make a wall of ice with dust.

A few Grimm slipped through but the rest were trapped by a wall of ice created by the heiress the survivors being killed by Carla and Yang. Taking time to examine the new area Tiphany noticed that they were on a table of stone above a massive pool of lava and the cavern continued for an unseeable distance in the darkness.

"Hey guys, this goes on quiet a ways."

"Then we'd best put some distance between those things before they break through," Carla pointed back to where a few clawed legs were scratching and breaking their way through the barricade

They continued on in the dim light of the molten rock around them until they reached a drop off into a circular chamber that went dozens of feet down into a rising pool of lava and upwards hundreds to the top of the volcano covered in a thin coating of obsidian. Shadows shrouded the massive chamber but around them similar sounds to those before were heard.

"Fuck it," Yang said and fired another flare into the vent the flash revealing thousands of tsuchigumo covering the walls and across from them on the far wall was a giant tsuchigumo next to the roach from earlier.

"Now that I've got a better view of it that pit beast is a Tougo and that giant tsuchigumo is a Broodmother, they lay eggs that hatch into various insect Grimm particularly tsuchigumo," Ruby claimed.

"That's great but now we've gotta kill them both, preferably before their backup arrives," Alton said casually as he fired into the swarm behind them that had broken through Weiss's barricade.

"Back up I've got an idea," Weiss stepped past Alton purposefully, switching the dust type chambered in Myrtenaster as she walked.

Pointing the tip of her rapier to the swarm of Grimm Weiss activated the dust chamber just as they reached her sending them all flying backwards into the lava on either side of the stone platform. Turning around Weiss made a giant summoning glyph that drew the attention of the Grimm in the vent but they were too late to stop Weiss from summoning back the dozens of spider Grimm she'd just killed. Ice summons swarmed the walls around them and fought the normal Grimm, each one killed was summoned back to fight its former brethren.

"Alright let's go the summons will keep their attention!" Alton shouted and began to climb the vent towards the surface.

"Give me a second," Weiss gasped releasing her summoning glyph which cleft her out of breath and exhausted.

"It's fine Weiss I've got you," Ruby offered scooping Weiss off her feet and using her semblance to get them both to a small ledge near the top of the vent.

"Ah! What the hell Ruby? Since when can you use your semblance on other people?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head, "Aha, well around the time I got to Mistral, me and Nora did some cool stuff combining our semblances. I guess it's a bit embarrassing because it feels weird when I take someone with me plus our auras kind of meld a bit, I almost electrocuted myself when I did it with Nora."

"We've all changed, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. It did feel a bit odd however."

"Yeah," Ruby looked down towards the other hunters who had almost made it to the top, "Hey you guys doing okay?"

"Yep, we're good sis! Weiss those summons of yours are doing work, the normal Grimm are almost all gone!"

"Yeah but my summons are almost gone too, there's only twenty left."

"And we still have to deal with the broodmother and the tougo," Alton added.

"I've got a plan for that!" Carla giggled in excitement.

"Is it explosive?" Tiphany asked.

"Maaaybeee."

"You're going to make the volcano erupt."

"That's the plan."

"Oh. Wonderful."

"Best way to squash a bug is with fire and a few pounds of high explosives will send all that lava up to them."

"I realize that but we're up here too."

"We'll get out first then."

"The roof is rock."

"I've got spare explosives don't you worry."

Once everyone was in place all the Grimm and all the summons had died and only the broodmother and the tougo remained clinging to the wall. Carla quickly placed a small breaching charge on the foot thick obsidian curling and blew a hole bi enough for them to climb out of.

"How are you going to place the other charges?" Alton asked.

"Already did. Threw em around while we were at the bottom now we've just got to get to a safe distance. Get moving everybody unless you want your ass to be barbecue, even if it's your only chance to be as hot as me."

Everybody set off at a light jog down the active volcano to conserve energy in case they needed to run once it blew its top.

* * *

"The hell do you mean 'little sister'?" Nadia roared at the fall maiden who shook her head at her own realization.

"I mean you are my younger sister who I though was dead when I burned and slaughtered every other person in our tribes. I killed them all but still to this day some of them persist and try to fight me. It's my own fault in a way, my own fault for not understanding my semblance."

"What are you talking about Cinder?"

"My semblance lets me absorb peoples souls and auras, every single one of our family members and tribe mates except for you is stuck in my head, some of them gave up and now I have full control over their memories, semblances, and their auras have been added to my own. You survived only because I realized what had happened just as I'd put my knife to your throat, you were an infant then and I was only five years old. A five year old commuting genocide, it's so absurd but it's exactly what I did," Cinder chuckled, "But then Salem took me in. I became her vessel, and her servant, I've never done anything more fulfilling but the one thought that's always plagued my mind is where might my sister be, I knew you survived but where you might be was the biggest issue and now on my search for the spring maiden here you are!" Raven stayed stoic despite Cinders mention of the spring maiden.

"What does any of this have to do with you coming here Cinder?" Raven spoke up.

"Nothing, nothing at all, merely a pleasant surpise along the way. As I said, I'm here for the spring maiden, I know you have her, and either you let Salem 'borrow' her or she sends more Grimm than you could possibly fend off to destroy your whole damned tribe and I will _take_ her from you."

"We don't have the maiden," Raven insisted.

"Oh but you do, and I know for a fact that she's on this very ship."

"We don't have the maiden!"

"Tsk, tsk Raven, don't you know that lying is bad? No matter, you have a week to give her up willingly and the only reason I'm sparing you is because my mistress has other plans for this tribe of yours. Now why don't you leave me and my sister here to catch up, I promise I won't mess up your ship, you can leave your pet to watch us if you really need to."

"Fine, but I want you gone in an hour," Raven stormed back into the bridge.

"So is there anything you'd like to know about our tribe before I slaughtered them?" Cinder chided.

Nadia sat down on the rail bordering he edge of the deck, "What were our parents like?"

"Sora Cobalt was our dad and Kasai Fall was our mother, I took her last name and you took his as was tradition for inter tribe children. Father was the chieftain of the Burūsukēru tribe and our mother was the storyteller and historian of the Akai Hebi tribe. The two tribes had always been rivals but after a bloody conflict before our parents were born they resolved their differences and held a yearly peace meeting of games and feasting. At one of these meetings our parents met and fell in love as if such a thing would happen any other way. Eventually we were born but as was law they could not marry between tribes so we were split and switched every year at the meetings, and it was your first switch since being born a few months before. That night I snapped. The first ones I killed were mother and father and they were the first souls to give in, I still have their memories and semblances including fathers fire and mothers dust manipulation."

"Give in?" Nadia asked unfazed by the gruesome description.

"Their souls live on inside my mind, speaking to me, trying to make their voices heard. The stronger the soul the longer they last, once they give up they're gone as if they'd died normally and I have full reign of their semblance and memories otherwise they usually fight me and make it difficult to use their semblance or access their memories. No one is left of our tribe but others have lasted longer, the oldest souls are a pair, a huntress and her husband."

"How many are left right now?"

"I've killed hundreds in my lifetime but most didn't even have unlocked auras and gave in early, right now I have twenty that still fight, two of them strongest of all, some of my more difficult foes. Occasionally they overpower me when they work together, I lose control despite that they haven't made an attempt to kill me with that time, only impede my missions or speak their minds."

"Sounds difficult though I'd do the same seeing as you're a terrorist hellbent on the downfall of society at the hands of your Grimm controlling mistress."

"What would you know of Salem?"

"She's trying to find all the maidens so she can get all the relics and use them to destroy Remnant."

"She's trying to make a new world order, those who help her have a place in the new word she will create, and I will be right by her side when she does it."

"You're making a mistake with this. I don't know you very well but as your sister I still care about what you do."

"It's my choice and I don't plan on changing my mind, not after all Salem has done for me. Speaking of which what's your choice? What do you do?"

"I'm a huntress, what else? Slaying the creatures of Grimm is all I've known since being raised in Atlas by the military."

"I wonder how you ended up in Atlas? After the massacre I left and wandered until Salem found me."

"I don't know, I was an infant most likely found amidst the ashes and bodies."

"No bodies, my semblance doesn't leave bodies behind, blood maybe, no bodies."

"Well the ashes and blood then."

"Most likely."

The two sisters sat in silence staring at the hellish landscape around the fleet. Lava flowed sluggishly across the charred ground and lone Grimm wandered sparsely.

Emerald slid open the door of their bullhead with a rash of metal on metal, "Cinder, the seer is acting weird, I think we need to return."

"You're right, thank you Emerald," the pickpocket blushed at her superiors praise, "Go ahead and tell Mercury to start up the engines I'll be aboard in a moment."

"Got it. Hey Mercury-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard her," the bullheads engines revved up and it began to hover just above the deck.

"Well, until we meet again Nadia. Please consider joining Salem's new order, I'd rather not lose my last family in the coming purge."

"Sure, I'll consider it. Get out of here before I start to think about arresting you to keep you from ditching me again," Nadia joked with a small level of seriousness.

Cinder laughed in her raspy voice, "You wouldn't stand a chance, you aren't just my sister and a huntress you're younger and less experienced whereas I'm a maiden who's been fighting since I could walk."

"You'd be surprised Cinder, now get out of here, my team will be back soon and I'd rather not explain this while you're here."

"Oh a team? You'll have to introduce me sometime."

"Sure sis, now seriously scram."

"If you insist. Remind Raven that I'll be back in a weeks time."

"I will."

Cinder turned and waved before boarding her bullhead and looked back on the ship she left her newly discovered younger sister on. A sigh escaped her lips and she pulled the door closed as she turned to where her subordinate sat across from her.

"You have a sister?" Emerald asked before she could stop herself.

"Yes apparently, I didn't think she had survived but I guess I'm not the last of our clans after all. It's ironic that then my only goal was getting away but now that I've finally returned I've found the thing I left waiting for me."

"Maybe," Emerald paused before continuing, "I just got a call from our contact, he has a deal for us."

"Good, the next step is in motion."

"What the hell was that!" Qrow roared once Nadia had come back inside the ship where he waited.

"Cinders my fucking sister!"

"The hell?"

"I come from a mix of two tribes that were wiped out almost seventeen years ago and Cinder, my older sister was the one who did it and she only spared me!"

"H-holy shit. I know what tribes you're talking about, I was sent to investigate it by Ozpin because only a maiden or someone with equivalent power could have done it but when I got there a bunch of Atlesian soldiers and a specialist were leaving with a pair of body bags and a bunch of evidence leaving me there with no leads and a bunch of blood and smoke, no bodies, nothing."

"That's because of her semblance."

"What is it?"

"She absorbs people's souls and auras when she kills them, their memories and semblances can be used by her once their soul dies and gives up, a side effect is the body disintegrates afterwards."

"Fuck, that explains a lot. Did you learn anything else?"

"Nothing new that's related to our mission."

"Damn, well at least you distracted her for long enough for me to get Raven to promise she won't help Salem and help us if we need it, she knows that now more than ever."

"Still no spring maiden?"

"She's admitted she knows where she is but it's not the same girl it was before which means the poor kid died, it's a damn shame she was only a kid."

"A kid?"

"No more than twelve. Had her whole life ahead of her."

Qrow sighed and took a sip of his flask.

"You mind if I have a drink of that?" Nadia asked.

"Go ahead kid, knock yourself out, actually don't do that you're our ride home, have a little bit, gods know you need it more than me," Nadia graciously accepted the flask and took a large gulp from it before handing it back to the grizzled hunter, "So what's it like being the sister to one of the most infamous terrorists and murderers on Remnant, actually don't answer that I already know, my sister held that title until yours showed up at Beacon."

"She's my sister but she sure as hell isn't family, not until she earns it after what she's done."

"I know that feeling all too well but once someone becomes family they are forever."

"You've been through some shit haven't you Qrow?" Nadia asked the veteran with a grim smile.

Qrow chuckled lightly before answering, "You know it, first I find out my semblance is bad luck, get kicked out of the tribe to learn how to be a hunter so I can fight them, grow too attached to the gig and my team, hide my semblance the entire time despite terrible things happening to them and to top it all off our leader goes missing presumed dead after my sister ditches us with her newborn daughter and that's not even touching all the messed up stuff I've seen Salem and her minions do."

"Hit me, what's the worst you've seen?"

"Ever seen a fat guy get turned inside out by a gravity dust slug?"

"I can only imagine, those are used to distort and destroy heavy armor."

"Yeah well I'll just say that some of my outfit hasn't always been red but it has since."

"Gross, you ever seen a bone miser?"

"Yeah kid, what kind of amateur do you think I am? I've seen just about every Grimm on land and air, the ones I'm not used to are the aquatic ones."

"Speaking of aquatic did you see the leviathan we took down in the ocean the other day?"

"Hard not to miss it, Ruby tells me that green flash that vaporized it was Penny rebuilt."

"That's true, I'm guessing you didn't know about her until her temporary death either."

"It was news to me and Ozpin both James has done some crazy stuff in the sake of military progression but that's probably the craziest and the closest to breaking multiple international treaties."

"Not even us?" Nadia asked gesturing to herself.

"Not even your team."

"It's not just our team or didn't Winter tell you? There are four teams, the only physically capable survivors of the experiments, there were a total of twenty four survivors over all though but that's out of a hundred test subjects, more than a seventy five percent mortality rate. Good thing we were all orphans, Faunus, and willingly volunteered infants for large sums of money or there would have been a massive social outcry if it were publicized."

"But it wasn't?"

"Hell no, the first civilians to find out since it happened are none, the only people who know outside the Atlas Military are you, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, plus Jaune, Nora, and Ren, but they don't know as much they just know we get stronger with every Grimm we kill not about the experiment aspect of it."

"I remember when James first revealed the first handheld plasma cannons to the military, there were riots about how it was overkill for foot soldiers to have warship grade weapons even though the technology was seriously downsized and underpowered compared to the airship mounted guns everyone is used to."

"I was actually considering using that as part of my weapon until I came across some of the research and development department's cluster missile documents."

Their conversation was cut off by the blaring of klaxons. Instantly the corridors of the airship were crowded with crew and Qrow and Nadia were rushing to the bridge to see what was going on.

"All crew to battle stations! Prepare all weapons to fire!" Vernal shouted orders as Raven stood glaring at the side of the volcano out of the view screen.

"Raven what's going on?" Qrow asked.

"Those kids of yours sure did their damn job, they've gone through the lava tubes and come out of the main vent with the Tougo in tow along with a broodmother according to the scouts we sent down to meet them, they're planning to make a stand on the ground but according to them that whole mountain's about to blow so we're getting ready in case this goes south and they survive."

"Damn it, they'd better not die doing this, I'm going to pick them up if they get overwhelmed. Those idiots are going to be the death of me!" Nadia raged and stormed off the bridge towards the hangars.

"Where do you find these kids Qrow?" Raven sighed.

"Well that ones part of a secret soldier program from Atlas so I really don't know most of the time, they just show up."

"I don't envy you."

"You never were good with kids, even when you were one you could barely deal with yourself."

"I couldn't stand _anyone_ then," Raven snorted.

"Except Tai."

"Except Tai," Raven admitted reluctantly.

"Ma'am we've got massive vibrations coming from the volcano!" One of the officers at an information station on bridge reported.

"Here they come!" Vernal warned.

* * *

The explosion was underwhelming at first the thin stone shell covering the top crumbling and getting launched into the air by a rush of hot air and gas. Soon after however before anyone could comment a wave of fire spilled out all of the flammable gases igniting the air surrounding the volcano at once and burning out immediately causing the surrounding air to move inwards to fill the vacuum pulling the fleet with it towards the volcano that was now spewing chunks of rock and lava at high speeds in almost any direction. Secondary detonations went off as lava reached exposed fire dust pockets and the last of the explosives blew holes in the sides of the volcano launching lava and rubble in more directions. Pyroclastic flow roared down the mountainside at the speed of a rocket quickly gaining on the two massive Grimm that had taken chase after the six hunters after the initial explosion.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck, shiiiiiiiit!" Alton screamed as he ran just behind everyone else to make sure nobody fell behind.

"This is what happens when we let Carla use the explosives!" Tiphany shouted.

"Last time I used explosives it went well, remember the Terrortuga?"

"You and Alton both almost died!"

"But we looked badass doing it," Alton snarked.

"That doesn't mean you didn't almost die!"

"Could we focus on the task at hand? You three are so dysfunctional," Weiss shook her head at the bickering teammates.

"We're not much different Weiss," Yang muttered under her breath.

"Incoming!" Ruby warned just in time for everyone to duck out of the way of an incoming chunk of mountain.

Carla turned so that she was running backwards so she could face the Grimm bearing down on them, "You big fucks don't know when to give up do you? Eat this!" Carla threw the last of her explosives on the ground and pulled the detonator trigger once the Grimm reached it the resulting explosion sending the broodmother flying back into the wave of molten rock and solid ash the Tougo stumbling as it's rear two legs were burned off by the encroaching pyroclastic flow.

"Nice job!" Alton praised his teammate.

"We should fight this thing now that it's crippled," Yang suggested.

"Did you forget about the fucking wave of fire behind it?" Tiphany asked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, nevermind."

The six continued running just out of the pit Grimm's reach which was just barely faster than the flow of burning hot ash and dust roaring down the still erupting volcano. The fleet of bandit airships had moved out of the way of burning projectiles and thick ash and smoke but one small ship weaves through the airborne obstacles to reach the stranded hunters. Unleashing a salvo of rockets the Adder flies straight into the chaotic firestorm. Rockets slam into the Tougo knocking it off its feet leaving it to be devoured by the flow of the volcano one final screech of anguish from its mandibles escapes before it gets buried in hyper dense ash. The Adder makes a steep turn to catch back up with the group running from the wrath of nature and once it levels off just ahead of them the rear door lowers to reveal Nadia in the hold with a handful of rappelling cords.

"Grab on!" the snake Faunus shouted hooking the ropes to the hull and throwing them down to her friends.

Each taking hold of a rope they clambered up onto the ship to escape the roaring hellfire behind them. Nadia silently counted to make sure everyone was aboard before closing the door and jumping back into the cockpit to accelerate out of harms way. Once on a straight course to reunite with the fleet Nadia stepped back into the hold to see how everyone was recovering from their near escape from a fiery death.

"What the hell were you all thinking?" Nadia scolded glaring at her team especially her partner and leader.

"We were hoping they'd get caught up in the initial eruption but that didn't work so we ended up having to make a run for it after we escaped from a swarm of tsuchigumo but once Weiss launched half of them into the lava she summoned them all back and they wiped each other out leaving just the two big ones," Alton rapidly explained.

"Speaking of summoning a few hundred Grimm I'm wiped out, wake me when we're back in Mistral," Weiss yawned before passing out in her seat.

"Weiss?" Ruby anxiously checked her partners pulse before being reassured by the steady beat of her heart.

"We're all tired, just get us back to the the ship so we can finish what we came here for," Alton pleaded.

"Sure thing Chief, but you're not off the hook just yet, there's some stuff I've got to tell you about once we're back," Nadia smiled fondly at her partner as she turned back to the cockpit to guide the Adder into the hangar.

"I blew up a broodmother," Carla realized with a gasp.

"Yeah, you did. I'm proud of you," Tiphany said kissing her on the cheek.

Carla blushed profusely, "It wasn't that great, just a broodmother."

"Stop selling yourself short babe, you did good today, those new eyes are doing good too."

"Yeah they are, I've barely noticed the difference."

"I have, they look a lot better on you," this left Carla blushing even more as she settled into her seat beside Tiphany.

"Since when can Weiss summon?" Yang asked her sister quietly as the heiress slept between them.

"I don't know, she summoned a couple of times when we first ran into her at the White Fang fortress but I didn't really register it until later but just now she summoned hundreds of those Grimm even though they were kind of small and I think size is the only defining factor."

"Apparently she was on the news fighting Adam with a giant summon during the riots, what I wouldn't give to have been there so I could get him back for this," Yang clutches her prosthetic.

Ruby put a hand on her sisters shoulder, "Hey, you'll get your chance Yang, we'll find him eventually."

"Yeah I know, sooner rather than later hopefully."

"Yeah."

"I've got the same reason to fight him too, bastard blew me up and I'll get him for that!" Carla shouted from across the ship.

"He probably didn't do it directly but you do have a good point. Those bombs killed hundreds during the riots and that won't be the last time Mistral comes directly under fire until either us or Salem has the relic," Tiphany agreed.

"Then that gives us even more reason to find the spring maiden," Ruby exclaimed determinedly.

* * *

"I don't have the maiden and I don't know where she is. She left us just after we found her," Raven admitted.

"You'd better not be lying Raven!" Qrow snarled.

"Calm your tits bro, I wouldn't lie about something like this. After Cinder showed up and you told me about her working with Salem there isn't a way in this world I'd still work with her, I'm on your side now, or at least as close to that as I've been in a while it may still take some convincing for the rest of the tribe though but after today you're definitely on our good side."

"Wait, Cinder?" Ruby interrupted.

"Yeah, Cinder showed up with her two goons while you guys were in the tunnels," Nadia spoke up, "That's part of what I was going to tell you about, Cinder's my older sister apparently," the room went silent, shocked looks on everyone's faces except for Raven and Qrow who'd been present for the reveal.

"How? When?" Alton asked bewildered.

"I'm going to keep this simple, she's the one that wiped out our tribe, killed our own parents too, left me alive at the scene of the crime, wandered around after that and was picked up by Salem at some point. Apparently her semblance takes people's souls and auras when she kills them and allows her to use their semblances which explains the lack of bodies as they disintegrate like Grimm afterwards, however their souls sometimes survive if they're strong enough."

"Oh no, we shouldn't tell Jaune about that part," Ruby sighed.

"Why not?" Nadia asked.

"Cinder killed Jaunes girlfriend? Partner? I don't know what they were at that point but they had feelings for each other when she died holding Cinder off and I got there just in time to see her disintegrate just like you said. It would be best not to give him false hope."

"She did say that one of the four intact and fighting souls left was from Beacon so it might actually be her, was she strong?"

"Hell yeah she was, she was a pro!" Yang exclaimed.

"Let me rephrase, was she mentally strong?"

"After dealing with Jaunes incompetence to her pining for that long there's no way she wasn't."

"Then there's a very good chance it's her, but we'd still best not tell Jaune his mental state is bad enough as is."

"Wait, I've got one thing to say," Qrow interjected taking a swig if his flask, "I was at the place your tribe was wiped out just after the cops and Atlesian investigators left and they had two body bags with them leaving the scene and if that's where they found you why would there be bodies in the first place? Also where were you at this point?"

"Two body bags, her semblance doesn't leave bodies unless they died some other way, indirectly maybe?"

"That doesn't explain where you were, I saw all of their gear and loads, no infant to be found."

"This was top secret, if they had planned for me to be a subject they'd keep me hidden. I was in one of the body bags!"

"What about the other one?" Carla asked.

"Hell if I know? Maybe somebody died in a fire afterwards?"

"Maybe."

"What's this talk about body bags?" Weiss stumbled into the room drowsily.

"Cinders her sister and they're trying to figure out some of the intricacies of the situation of Cinder committing partial genocide of their tribes," Ruby said bluntly.

"What. The. Fuck?!"

"Yeah it's crazy I'll let her explain," Ruby threw her hands in the air.

Once Nadia explained once again Weiss had her hand on her chin comprehending the story she'd just been told.

"So, there was a project before oh guys right? Some girl who was just a bit older?"

"Yeah, Project Ash, why do you ask?" Alton answered.

"That was Cinder."

"What?"

"It explains the second body bag, why she has two souls that she's had for about sixteen years, Alton's parents obviously, and it makes sense linguistically Ash and Cinder are two very similar things. Do you guys know what Project Ash looked like?"

"No but we can ask Professor Polendina when we get back," Tiphany answered.

"Actually we do, you guys remember that dream we kee having? That was Project Ash, that was how my parents died, it also explains the level of powers she had despite not being a maiden. She had black hair and orange eyes, weird tattoo on her back."

"That's definitely Cinder," Yang confirmed.

"So Cinder wasn't wandering around for a few years she was experimented on and raised by my parents until she was possessed? That's what it sounded like in the dream. But once that happenes she disappeared so maybe that's actually when Salem found her?" Alton suggested.

"I wouldn't put it past her. But what about the third soul that's still fighting, who could that be?" Nadia asked, "She said she killed that person about eleven years ago when she was training, they were her hardest opponent yet."

"A maiden? The second to last summer maiden died around that time I remember Ozpin throwing a fit about it before he got word of where the next one was," Qrow guessed.

"Maybe."

"All these hypotheticals are annoying and this discussion has nothing to do with me so now that our business is decided I'd like you to leave my ship. Yang I'd like to speak with you before you go. Please," Raven interrupted.

"Why should I?" Yang growled at her birth mother.

"Please, Yang. I need to tell you something."

"Fine, but make it quick," Yang reluctantly followed the chieftain into the hall.

After Raven cleared the hall with a few curses at the crew she cleared her throat and directed her attention to her daughter.

"You're so much like your father."

"So I've been told."

"But there's definitely some of me in you too, that's the problem. I don't want you turning out like me, seeing you with your teammates and friends out there? It made me realize what I missed, what I left behind. It was painfully obvious, even more so than before that I made the wrong choice in leaving even though I had a greater responsibility to fulfill here there were others that could do it instead and I'm sorry for that."

"Why should you be? It's too late now, too late to fix all the damage you've done to me and to dad. It's better off if you just leave us alone now."

"No it's not Yang, I know when to fix something that's broken, and you, you definitely need some fixing and not just from me, I can see that. Just remember that if you need a mom, I'm here again."

"I'll remember but I'm not going to need you. I've learned to live without you I don't need you now."

"I see that, I'm proud of you for it. Even without me you've grown strong, stronger than I was at your age."

"I did have Summer though, and she was more my mom than you ever will be."

"Summer always was the team mom, I almost decided I wanted her to be my partner but Tai blundered onto her before I could make a move so I got stuck with my idiot brother. It's ironic she ended up being a better mom to my own daughter than I was."

"Yeah it is. I'll see you around, Raven."

"Yes, you will."

Yang turned around and left for the hangar so that they could leave but Raven stood there her eyes lingering on Yang as she left. Shaking her head to clear her watering eyes she turned away and marched to the bridge to begin the rebuilding process of her fleet and camps after the attacks of the day.

"This is weird," Ruby decided a while after they'd started on their way back to the city of Mistral.

"What? The fact that a friend of yours is the six years younger sister of notorious criminal and terrorist Cinder Fall who helped orchestrate the attack that wiped out your home kingdom and school as well as kill one of your best friends and steal the maidens powers for Salem?" Alton said sarcastically.

"Yeah pretty much."

"I'm a bit shocked too but I know that Nadia won't let her feelings get the better of her, we've seen what she can do first hand."

"The attack that killed your parents?"

"Yeah, plus a couple of other things. She's not afraid of sacrificing things for her own gain."

"Let's just hope I can figure out these silver eyes before she starts making a move on Mistral, just the fact that she's here is worrying."

"She needs the spring maiden to even get to the relic, so we've got until she finds the maiden and she said she's going after Raven in a week which means we've got about that long if she thinks Raven has her."

"I'm still not so sure Raven doesn't know where the maiden is."

"Me neither," Alton thought for a moment, "Say, our semblances are pretty similar d'you want to spar when we get back?"

"Sure, Vytal rule set?"

"Weapons and semblances allowed, match ends when one persons aura drops?"

"Yep."

"Sure thing, I'll meet you on the patio Red."

* * *

"Bring me Sal," Adam ordered one of the guards that stood in his tent.

"Yes sir."

A few moments later a burly Faunus with thick grey skin covering his body pushed aside the tent flap and entered the dark abode, eyes glinting in the lamplight from behind large flaps of scarred flesh covering his head.

"Sal Acajou?"

"That's me, Supreme Leader."

"Good, you remember those explosives we had you use during the riots, yes?"

"Yes I do, some of my finest work given the lack of materials."

"Well, we're planning another attack in a weeks time, I need you to make some new bombs like those but more powerful, but don't worry about materials we've been raiding supply shipments and there's more than enough for what we have in mind given your talents."

"That's good, how many do we need?"

"Enough to leave a crater where the CCT stands."

The rhino Faunus grunted excitedly, "That won't take much at all but I'll make some extra in case there's anything else we need to get rid of."

"That will do, I will have you personally plant the bombs on the CCT once the city is in chaos to cover our plans. You'll be escorted by a squadron of your choice."

"Thank you, Supreme Leader Taurus, for this opportunity to strike back against the humans. For the freedom of our people!"

"And the glory of the White Fang," Adam finished the customary phrase and dismissed the explosives expert so he could begin his work.

"Soon enough we will control Mistral as well, how goes your search for the spring maiden?" Adam directed his question at a dull red glow in an unlit corner of the tent.

A seer emerged from the darkness showing an image of Cinders, "Raven assures me she didn't know the whereabouts of the maiden but the seer says that she is with them so I'm afraid we may have to destroy them despite your attacks and the Grimm our mistress sent."

" _Your_ mistress, not ours. She commands you, I am merely cooperating with her for the good of the Faunus. On the matter of the maiden, I will supply more troops to aid in your attack so that we can reach the relic but once you have her you are on your own."

"Salem wishes to inform you that during the attack the Grimm do not discriminate between human and Faunus so if you wish to protect your kin, keep them out of their way."

"I found that out at Beacon when they attacked my men from inside the bullheads we brought them in on."

"I wouldn't know."

"No, you wouldn't."

"I have more pressing things to deal with right now Adam, the next time you see me it will be at Haven."

"Until then, Fall Maiden."

"Until then, Bull."

The connection cut off and the seer floated back into the corner where it was hidden. Adam looked back to his desk where a map of Mistral was laid out detailing their attack, grinning he picked up a red marker and drew three diagonal lines across Haven in the center of the city-state.

"Soon, soon Haven will fall."

* * *

The sun was setting on the Scarlet Sea as the Adder landed and everyone disembarked ready to get back to the house so they could rest after the days events.

"Weiss, you're too heavy," Ruby groaned under half the weight of her partner who was draped halfway over her shoulders.

"That's your own fault, you offered to help carry me to the house."

"Ugh, I didn't realize you'd gained weight since we left Beacon."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been working out?" Ruby said tentatively realizing she was on thin ice.

"Actually I have," Ruby released a deep breath she'd taken just in case.

"After today I really need to take a shower, so I'll see you guys there!" Alton shouted as he ran ahead before disappearing in a flash of heated air as he sued his semblance to run to the house ahead of them.

"Good, I don't want him stinking when we spar," Ruby muttered.

"I'd like to see that, two speed semblances fighting it out," Yang commented.

"Yeah I would too," Nadia agreed more because she just enjoyed watching her partner fight without the stress of an actual battle.

"Me and Carla are heading out for a bit, we'll be back in a few hours."

"Don't get too drunk, make it home alive!" Nadia called as the couple split off and went down another street towards the more urban parts of the city.

"You're back," Oscar said nonchalantly from the couch where he was poring over the latest news on tv.

"Is that Ozpin in control right now?" Alton asked as he stepped through the front door.

"It was Ozpin that said that, I'm back now, we were doing a bit of internal conversation about some recent events," the boys voice shifted suddenly, "It's a shame that Farrah Calamansi died so recently in an attempt to protect the summer maiden who was under her care, she was also killed in the attack."

"Who's Farrah Calamansi?"

"The headmistress of Shade Academy in Vacuo, an old friend of mine and a close confidant, I'll have to make contact with her successor to explain the situation and start a discreet search for the new summer maiden. Supposedly the assassination was carried out by White Fang sympathizers."

"We fought a bunch of White Fang today, they were attacking bandit controlled towns and in the process of helping them we got free passage to see Raven."

"Oh, how did it go? Did she know where the maiden is?"

"No, they found her at first but she escaped them and hasn't been seen since. Cinder showed up too looking for her."

"Indeed? Then the situation is more dire than I suspected. Did you get any information from her?"

"Nadia did, I'll let her explain it though, I just want to shower."

"Go ahead, rest. You've done well today. I'll have everyone recount the events later," his side of the conversation over Ozpin relented the reigns back over to Oscar.

"Did you kill any cool Grimm today?" The young boy asked.

"We killed a ton of tsuchigumo, plus a Tougo and a broodmother."

"Wow, a broodmother, one of our neighbors had a tsuchigumo infestation because of one of those a few years back they had to call in a bunch of hunters to clear them out."

"Well we did it with a few high explosives and a volcano."

"Awesome, so when do I get to come with you guys on a mission, Ozpin's been teaching me more about how to fight Grimm so that I can protect myself if I have to."

"Soon, but right now it's a bit dangerous, they're very active."

"That's what I've been telling him," Ozpin interjected.

"Yeah but it gets so boring stuck here in town."

"How's this, next mission we get we'll take you along, as long as it's easy enough."

"That sounds good, I just want to get some actual experience with it so I don't have to rely on Oz taking over."

"Smart. Seriously though I stink off to the shower now, talk more later," Alton walked upstairs and started taking a shower in one of the shared bathrooms a few minutes before everyone else arrived.

"Alton already fill you in?" Qrow slurred when he saw Oscar.

"Yeah, Ozpin wants you to tell him a bit more about what happened with your sister but otherwise he's satisfied."

"Great."

"Where's Jaune, Ren, and Nora?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Jaune is out looking for the Nikosi clan house so he can talk to Pyrrha's parents. He needs to do it to gain some closure. Nora and Ren are out back sparring."

"They're gonna have to clear the area for me and Alton, I've been looking forward to fighting him since I saw his semblance!"

"Speaking of Alton I'm gonna see what's taking him," Nadia said going up the stairs to their room.

Opening the door Nadia found herself looking at her partners toned back as he dressed from just coming out of the steaming shower. Pulling his shirt on he turned to put on his armor and saw her standing in the doorway.

"Hey," Alton said blushing realizing she'd seen him.

"Hey, you need help with those?"

"Sure," Alton handed her the shoulder pads he'd been about to put on.

Nadia fumbled with the straps for a moment before she managed to calm down enough to stop her hands shaking. Once the shoulder pads were on he held his chestplate on and allowed her to tighten the straps in the back and arrange the smaller rear plates.

"Good luck in the sparring match, I'll be rooting for you," Nadia gave Alton a quick peck on the cheek before pulling away.

"I've got a question."

"Hmm?"

"What are we? This isn't an existential crisis it's just that I don't really understand what our relationship is, is it just partners with underlying sexual tension? Is it something more? Or are we just horny teenagers?"

"There's definitely something more, what it is? Who knows. Only time will tell but for now I say we just enjoy it."

"That's a good answer. You can go ahead and shower I'll be down on the patio waiting."

"Ok. I'll be quick."

On the paved patio Alton was greeted by Yang and Weiss relaxing on a pair of lawn chairs against the wall, Weiss wearing her "nice as ice" t-shirt and bleached jeans, Yang wearing her tank top and pants.

"You guys look comfortable."

"We've had a stressful day, now it's time to relax and watch you and Ruby go at it," Yang chuckled.

"We've definitely had a taxing day, I never knew I could summon that many Grimm at once," Weiss groaned.

"Hey Alton, you ready to do this?" Ruby asked from the doorway behind him.

"Yeah just give Nadia a minute to get out here, she wants to see this too."

"Sure thing, gives me more time to think of a strategy, how exactly does your semblance work again?"

"I transform kinetic energy into speed, at this point the fastest I can go is barely fast enough to turn sand to glass."

"Hmm, that makes things tricky, it'll be like fighting Yang but a lot faster. Mine just makes me go about ten times faster than normal but if I concentrate I can turn my whole body into a cloud of rose petals and move even faster and go through stuff."

"So you're definitely harder to hit, but I'm faster in general and can take more hits."

"That sounds about right, let's put on these aura monitors, they'll help make sure our auras don't get too low."

"Sure," Alton took the small metal band from the younger huntress and slipped it onto his wrist activating the readout on Ruby's scroll.

"Jeez, you've got a crazy strong aura! It's off the charts. I actually think you broke it."

"Damn, this isn't going to be fair at all. That's what happens when every Grimm you kill strengthens your aura."

"Just put on a dampener, you can scale the level that it restricts your aura so that you're equal," Nadia suggested when she arrived and heard the issue.

"That could work, let's try it," Alton slipped on the aura dampening bracelet and turned the scale down to half which halved his aura rather than removing it entirely which left his aura level almost equal to the cloaked huntress's.

"Alright let's do this then," Alton stepped onto the cleared area of the patio designated for sparring by the cliffs edge.

"Yeah, you're going down," Ruby set herself up across from him.

"Best out of three?" Alton asked.

"Sure."

They both took up combat stances hands on their sheathed weapons, Alton's dual wielding form of Abbysus Ignis at his hips and Ruby's folded Crescent Rose on her back. Nadia took position as the referee between them and on her cue the fight started. Alton pressed the release button on the dual blade submachine guns letting the blades slide out of their housing with a click and Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose with the clacking and whirring of gears and springs. Circling each other the two speedsters looked for openings in the others defenses. Before Ruby could react the thump of flash heated air being sucked into a vacuum was heard and she found the blades of Abbysus Ignis against her throat and her aura in the red.

"Score one for Alton," Nadia said.

"Come on sis you can get the next one!" Yang exclaimed.

"Yeah, go Ruby!" Weiss shouted.

"You did great Alton, keep it up!" Nadia urged.

The two fighters moved back to their positions and resheathed their weapons before Nadia marked the start of the next round. Both weapons were opened simultaneously and the fighters rushed each other and in the blink of an eye Alton had shifted his weapon to its double naginata form and the two were locked in a struggle for dominance. Alton pushed forward releasing his weapon from the blade lock they'd been stuck in and both of them transformed into seeming balls of whirling blades and semblance effects. Rose petals burst aflame as their semblances overlapped and conflicted and sparks flew as blades clashed at a speed faster than any of the spectators had seen before. Suddenly Ruby backed off and stabilized herself with the blade of Crescent Rose in the ground before firing a high impact gravity dust round into Alton's gut as he pursued her sending him flying into the wall just over Nadia's head. Picking himself up Alton checked and saw his aura was almost in the red but he had one more trump card, activating his semblance he turned the force of the impact into speed and launched himself at the red reaper who barely managed to dodge the attack that grazed her side. Grunting Ruby managed to turn around despite her velocity and put another round into Alton's back sending him sprawling to the ground and knocking his aura into the red.

"Yeah, go Rubes!" Yang cheered.

"Ha! You didn't stand a chance Goldenrod!" Weiss taunted.

"There's still one final deciding match," Nadia said as she gestured for the two to begin again only to see the two end up with blades at each other's necks within the blink of an eye, "And that's a tie, whoever wins this one wins it all, which is really only bragging rights."

"Those bragging rights are mine," Alton snarled switching Abbysus Ignis back to its dual wield mode.

"Nope, they're mine," Ruby defied him.

The match started and both of them pushed themselves to the limit, bursts of gunfire echoing from inside of a whirlwind of blades and fire each indescribably mixing to the point that nothing could be seen inside it from outside but the only thing that anyone knew once it was over was that Alton came out on top by delivering a spinning kick backwards into Ruby's stomach knocking her to the ground and smashing most of her aura in a single blow.

"Ah, crap. You win man, you win," Ruby lamented good naturedly.

"You almost got me," Alton gestured to his aura which was barely above the red.

"Oum, that was brutal," Nadia gasped as she embraced Alton in a congratulatory hug, "Now you need to rest, that fight must have taken a lot out of you after today."

"Hell yeah it did, good match though Red."

"You need to rest too Ruby, you just got beaten three times in a row and there's no way you're doing anything else today," Weiss scolded.

"Yeah, I'm tired. Too tired to even have dinner."

"Come on Alton, I'll help you get out of that armor," Nadia led him inside and up to their room.

"So what was that you said about us just being 'horny teenagers'?" Nadia asked as she helped Alton remove his armor and put his weapon away.

"Why do you ask?" Alton asked giving his partner a sideways glance as she pulled his sweat stained shirt over his head and threw it on the floor.

"Because that's exactly what I feel like right now."

"Seriously?"

"No joke."

"I mean, I guess we could."

"Then let me start," Nadia dropped to her knees in front of Alton and unzipped his pants leaving his dick standing at attention.

"Fuck, we really are about to do this."

"Oh you don't know how long I've wanted to do this," Nadia said wrapping her tongue around his shaft earning her a small gasp from him as he clutched the bed sheets he sat on.

"Fuck I'm too horny to deal with this, I'm riding this thing," Nadia pushed Alton back onto the bed and quickly stripped.

"You're hot," Alton said breathlessly.

"You didn't notice before?" Nadia sarcastically said as she struck an alluring pose before settling herself above him.

"I did, it's just really obvious n-oooooooow," Alton lost control of his own speech as Nadia slid her dripping wet cunt around his member.

Now firmly atop him Nadia girated a bit to get a feel for the cock inside her moaning a bit in the process.

"This will do nicely, it definitely feels a lot bigger inside, not that it needed to be any bigger than it looks."

"Thanks," Alton squeaked trying not to cum just from the sheer pressure his partners muscular body was putting on him.

"Now we can really get started," Nadia lowered herself into a better position only an inch from his face breasts pressing against his chest tightly between them.

Ever so slowly she began to rise and fall on top of him picking up the pace and taking it deeper each time to reach the best parts of herself. Alton gasped in surprise as she picked up the speed quickly pumping herself up and down so fast he had to take hold of her hips to stop her flying off. Moans filled the small bedroom as the two fucked like they'd never get the chance to do so again. Sucking in deep breaths whenever they could the two Faunus kissed for minutes on end getting shorter each time as the grew close to the breaking point. Nadia reached around to Alton's back holding onto him as if for dear life digging her nails into his back. They came in unison and absolute bliss, the pleasure so intense Alton almost didn't notice the blood on his shoulder until almost a minute had passed after they reached orgasm.

"Nadia, why am I bleeding?"

"Oh shit. I just bit you."

"That's kinky but okay."

"No like, I _really_ bit you."

"Oh. Oh shit. Fuck, we need to get the antivenom!" Alton flopped off of the bed already feeling slightly sluggish.

"In my bag!" Nadia raced to her bed and began to dig through her belongings to find the vial and accompanying needle for the antivenom derived directly for her own unique venom.

"Found it!" Nadia shouted turning to see that Alton had already lost consciousness.

"Shit!" Nadia jumped across the room filled syringe in hand she jabbed it into his arm and injected the substance.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"What the hell just happened?" Tiphany slammed the door open to find Nadia on the floor naked checking Alton's pulse while he was also naked.

"I accidentally hit him, like with my fangs!"

"Son of a bitch! Did you give him the antivenom?"

"What do you think?" Nadia shouted pointing at the empty syringe in her hand.

"Oh thank Oum you did, we should still get him to a hospital."

"Yeah, we should. Help me pick him up. We'll get him on the Adder."

"Let's put some clothes on both of you first."

"Good idea."

 **Authors notes:**

I prefer splitting the chapter with different povs than just one the whole time, it helps diversify and lengthen the whole thing a bit better.

Tons of giant spider Grimm in a bunch of dark tunnels? Yay nightmare fuel!

Cursing while running away from something will always be funny.

Yay, sibling bonding?

Explanations of unanswered questions abound.

Plotting.

Back to the action.

Explosions galore!

Blood and gore!

Yay!

They're making a bunch of assumptions. Some right, some wrong.

Home again, home again, fiddle de di.

 **Fighting builds strength.**

 **Sparring builds honor.**

 **Such is the way of men.**

 **Warriormale**

That's all I've got to say on the sparring, it was fun to write though.

Post sparring sex.

Accidental sex injury.

That's what you get for having a girlfriend with deadly fangs.

Off to the hospital, next time on Dragon Ball Z!

Nah, it's next time on Strangers: a RWBY oc story

Thanks for reading and as always follows, favorites and reviews are greatly appreciated and any feedback no matter how small makes my day.


	15. Vale Extraction

"How's your shoulder holding up?"

Alton snapped out of the stupor of working out and looked to see Carla entering the room and heading towards the pull-up bars.

"Oh, it's fine, a little sore is all. Getting better by the hour actually."

"That's good, we're shipping out tomorrow to help with the sweep of Vale, it's been almost a year but they want to check a few more times for survivors before they start bombing runs on the Grimm around there, the dragon is still on top of the CCT and spawning pools are showing up everywhere."

"We don't even get a days break? We just came back from scoping out Raven yesterday!"

"My thoughts exactly but it'll take about a day to get there where we're supposed to meet up with a few other bigger ships, the Tödlich Flüstern is the smallest one part of this and it's only coming because her crew have experience with the area, also us but that's off the books."

"I'm guessing it's only going to be a small search? Only a few ships for an area the size of Vale isn't a lot."

"Exactly, we'll only be dealing with the areas furthest from Beacon, the shoreline, outlying islands that got hit harder, and highly residential areas."

"One ship scouting the islands, two for the inner areas and one for perimeter making sure nothing too big shows up and gets the drop on us?"

"Yep, typical procedure for this stuff, not that it's been done since the Great War."

Alton sighed and dropped the weights he'd been lifting, "Sounds easy enough, looking for survivors, clearing out Grimm, and setting up advance positions for taking back the place later. Are any of RWY or JNR going?"

"No, this is a qualified hunters and military only operation, not that we don't expect any less than qualified people showing up but we have full authorization to arrest them for interference in military operations, they won't be charged but they will be escorted from the area."

"This'll be our first time in Vale for what? Five years?"

"Yeah, we were thirteen last time we were there, we wiped out some bandit tribe that had been using Grimm to attack smaller settlements."

"I remember, good times. Back before The Fall. Before the White Fang really got violent. Though it was the first time we killed anyone."

"We were conditioned to think of them as less than people, we found out how wrong we were when we saw how they acted when we killed them. How they pleaded. How they cried," Carla wiped away a few stray tears at the memory.

"Hey, hey. No need for that, we all did what we had too, yeah we were just kids, but we were soldiers too. They were criminals and murderers, they would've killed more people if we hadn't gotten them first."

"They weren't all adults though, there were kids there, like us! I shot a little girl, she couldn't have been more than five and every now and then when my mind is blank and I'm almost asleep, I see her again, her blank face with a bullet hole right between her eyes. I think whenever I remember her face, _'I did that'_ , I'm the one that murdered a little girl because she was pointing a gun at me. Because I panicked. Because that's what I'd been trained to do. Kill. That's all we do. We only ever kill, whether it's Grimm or people, it doesn't matter. Not in the slightest."

"It does matter though, we kill for the right reasons, to save others who would be hurt by the ones we stop. There's a reason behind the madness and it's for the greater good, to protect those who can't protect themselves."

"Yeah, but sometimes it would be better to help those who are doing the killing so they don't anymore rather than just killing them too."

"It would be better, some people just can't be helped though, some people have an ingrained bloodlust brought by being raised violently and taught that killing is fine if it's for your own gain."

Carla sighed and released her hold on the bars where she'd been hanging throughout their conversation, "I'll kill again if I have to, we all will, but that doesn't mean I'll always like it."

"Neither will I."

The two went back to their workouts and finished after an hour before heading back into the central room of the house where Ren was serving lunch to the few that were home. Tiphany and Nadia had left to pick up some warmer clothes for their mission in Vale as it was already well into winter there and only mid fall in Mistral. Yang, and Ruby were at a nearby post office to check for any letters from their dad and Weiss had tagged along. Jaune has left early that morning to meet with some of Pyrrha's family as they'd finally returned from an extended hunt to the family manor within the city, one of many scattered across Mistral.

"Ren! What did you put in these sandwiches? They taste amazing!" Nora exclaimed through a mouthful of food.

"Just experimenting with using multiple types of cheese and melting them together."

"I wonder if that would work for different types of syrup on pancakes."

"I'll have to remember that for tomorrow," Ren stepped over to the table with two more plates for Alton and Carla, kissing the top of Nora's head as he passed.

"I've got a few more coming up if you're still hungry after that workout," Ren offered indicating a couple more sandwiches frying on the stove.

"I'll take another two," Alton spoke as he was ravished after having to not eat since he'd been admitted into the clinic the night before after the _incident_ with Nadia.

"I'll have two more too," Carla said.

"I think I'm full, gotta save room for tonight," Nora said.

"What's tonight?" Alton asked curious.

"She got herself roped into an eating competition at some club known for its good food and discounts for hunters. She's going to go for the grand prize," Ren explained as he expertly flipped a sandwich.

"It's two thousand lien! Plus a voucher for a couple of free drinks," Nora shouted excitedly.

"How much do you have to eat?" Carla asked.

"More than everyone else, and there's twenty contestants. The only rule is you're not allowed to use any semblance that lets you metabolize stuff faster, they had one guy show up and eat everything they had a couple years back apparently."

"Damn, I'd like to have seen that," Alton gasped trying to imagine the situation.

"Almost put them out of business. Good thing he didn't," Nora chuckled.

"You'd better not do that either," Ren warned.

"Oh I won't, I need to save room for even later tonight anyways," Nora winked causing Ren to blush slightly.

"You two are gross," Alton snorted.

"Says the guy who got rushed to the E.R. because his girlfriend with venomous fangs bit him," Nora retorted.

"She's got you there man," Carla shrugged.

Alton grumbled and continued to eat his food.

* * *

"Hey Weiss, have you seen anyone from Haven while you've been here? I haven't seen anyone," Ruby asked her partner as they relaxed at an outdoor cafe.

"Yeah I haven't seen anyone I recognize either," Yang agreed.

"Yes actually, I saw Neptune when I was out with team ANCT before the riots. We were just out shopping and he ran through some traffic to talk to me like an idiot," Weiss recalled tapping her chin.

"Do you still like him? Like you did around the time of the dance?" Yang pried.

"No, I'm not exactly sure I really like guys anymore," Weiss said before taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh really? You seemed pretty smitten with the suave nerd back then."

"It was just a small crush but he's really the only guy I've ever had a crush on and he's gay anyways," Weiss sighed.

"Seriously?" Yang was surprised.

"Yeah, he said so when we saw each other, it was funny because after our short pitiful attempt at a relationship where we didn't even dance together we both realized we were a lot less than straight."

"Speaking of romance though, is there anyone in particular you fancy? Right now at least?"

Weiss flushed red glancing between the sisters, Ruby who was uninterested in the topic, and Yang who stared at the heiress with a devilish grin.

"What gives you that impression?" Weiss sputtered.

"The fact that you reacted like that," Yang chuckled.

"If you really must know, yes. But I'm not sure they feel the same, or are even attracted to girls."

"Another girl? A guy? Other?" Yang pestered.

"A girl."

"Do I know her?"

"I'm not giving you hints!"

"Just one, please! Something physical."

"She's taller than me," Weiss relented.

"Most people are," Yang said dissatisfied with the answer she got.

"Even I am!" Ruby chimed in causing Weiss to pout.

"I noticed, you've grown a lot since Beacon."

"Yep, I'm sixteen now, it's a shame my birthday was while we were traveling. If Beacon hadn't been attacked I could have celebrated there."

"It was coming up wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it's coming up in about a month now too."

"Gods it doesn't feel like it's been a year since The Fall," Yang sighed.

"It does to me, I've had to sit around at home and deal with my father for every day of it until I escaped with team ANCT."

"You're going to have to go back eventually," Ruby said realizing the situation the pale huntress was in.

"I know, but I'll come back when I want to, not when he wants me to. Ironwood has managed to keep my whereabouts secret from him but it's only a matter of time before he's forced to tell him where I am."

"Well you're not going anywhere without us," Yang said determinedly.

"Yeah, I'll fight your dad if I have to!" Ruby said loudly drawing attention from some people near them.

"Ruby, no. You can't fight my dad. Mostly because you'd kill him, he's never unlocked his aura."

"Oh, I'd do something to stop him then. Something other than fighting him."

"You can try," Weiss relented.

"Back onto the subject of romance though, Rubes is there anyone you like?" Yang smirked conspiratorially at her younger sister.

Ruby thought for a second, "I like a lot of people but not really romantically. Maybe someday but right now I'm really occupied with finding the maiden and stuff. Saving the world comes first, romance later."

"That's surprisingly mature," Weiss admitted.

"Why thank you," Ruby leaned back in her chair before catching herself from almost falling.

"Not mature enough apparently."

"It's Yang's turn now, do you have any romantic interests?" Ruby asked wiping off her hands once she'd gotten off the ground.

"Not really, I mean there are people I find attractive sure but no one I'm actually that interested in," Yang looked away from her teammates and towards the bustling street next to them.

"I wish we could go with them," Ruby sighed her mind already switching gears.

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Team ANCT. They're going to Beacon to search for survivors now that the Grimm activity is starting to die down. Last I heard at least five whole teams didn't make it out along with some of the teachers, they stayed behind to help people who'd gotten stuck. At least Vacuo has been dropping those weekly supplies just in case and according to their reports the supplies are usually gone by the next drop," Yang explained.

"Oh, I'd sure like to go too. I wonder if our bunk beds are still holding up."

"Sure they are, they can hold up to anything!" Ruby said confident in their handiwork.

"Which teams didn't make it out? I didn't see any official papers," Weiss asked.

"Most of the teams that made it out split up and went home if they lived in other kingdoms but some went to other kingdoms to keep learning and try and take back Vale. A couple are here in Mistral last I checked, no one we know though. The only team I recognized on the MIA list was CFVY."

"They'll be fine, they were the toughest second years there! Plus last I saw during the evacuation they were searching with Professor Port and Professor Oobleck Who are missing along with them," Yang said recalling the list that had been distributed after the attack.

"It's Doctor!" Ruby said imitating Ooblecks usual retort to when somebody used the wrong title.

"I'll see if Alton can keep an eye out for them, they'll be searching closest to Beacon anyways," Weiss offered.

"What about the dragon?" Yang asked.

"It's still frozen thanks to me, hasn't moved once since I used my powers, I really need to figure out how to do that again."

"With four warships, the smallest being your sisters I'm sure they've got enough firepower to deal with it in case it does wake up," Yang said to Weiss.

"One of them is designed to bring down Leviathan class Grimm, pretty much just a bunch of infrastructure built around one giant cannon. It's almost four times more powerful than that ridiculous thing Penny pulled off last week," Weiss said in regards of the fleet that was undertaking the mission.

"Man, I'd like to see what that could do," Ruby said excited by the mere thought of such a weapon.

"I mean it's been globally outlawed for use against anything other than a Leviathan Grimm so simply put, if there's a mountain in your way, well, there's not a mountain any more."

"Damn, that kind of firepower seems overkill for a rescue mission, there won't be anyone left to rescue if they use it," Yang muttered.

"It's a last resort, only if the dragon wakes up and they can't take it down with conventional weaponry."

"As if three warships aren't conventional weaponry?"

"I'm not saying they are, it's just if all else fails blow it to hell."

"That tends to work," Ruby said sarcastically.

"What's the sarcasm for? It does work despite its brutality."

"Even when a much less powerful precision strike could deal with it?"

"I'm a fencer Ruby, you shouldn't be talking to me about precision of all people."

"Yeah and I'm a sniper, so what?"

"Your other attack style is spinning with a giant scythe," Weiss deadpanned.

"O-okay so what?"

"Precision is only part of your style. It's almost all of mine."

"Fine whatever."

"Plus I said _if_ all else fails, that doesn't mean precision was going to fail."

"Fine fine, I give up! You win this argument Weiss," Ruby gave in.

"You two are like an old married couple," Yang giggled.

"We are nothing of the sort!" Weiss blushed profusely.

"Yeah, Yang, nothing of the sort! Though I'm sure Weiss would make a wonderful wife to someone," Ruby said nonchalantly barely comprehending her own words that caused Weiss to blush even more.

"T-that's not something to joke about Ruby," Weiss complained to Yang's amusement.

"Why not?" Ruby asked bewildered causing Yang to burst out laughing.

"Yang? Yang what's so funny?" Ruby asked again causing her sister to laugh even harder.

"Yaaang please tell me!"

"Nope, you'll know when you're older."

* * *

"Wooooo!" Nora screamed in victory as she cleaned her twelfth and final plate of chicken wings that night just after her last opponent dropped out.

"Nora! Nora! Nora!" The people that had come to know the ginger huntress's name chanted as she was presented with a check for two thousand lien and a plaque stating her as the tenth annual champion.

"Damn, you sure ate a lot kid. With how you guzzled all that down I'm gonna have to name a dish after you," the burly bartender and owner of the club gave Nora a hearty slap on the back knocking a monstrous burp out of her.

"You serve breakfast right?" Nora asked.

"We sure do, for all the people left over from the night before."

"Name a pancake platter after me, twelve high in honor of how many plates I ate. Valkyrie's Victory or something like that," Nora slurred as she recovered from the massive amount of fried chicken she'd just eaten.

"I've got to get her back home so she doesn't get sick, I'm sure you understand," Ren lifted his staggering girlfriend half into his shoulders to help her walk.

"Yeah it's fine son, we'll finish the celebration and if you feel like coming back some day, well she still has those free drink vouchers," the man nodded as Ren and Nora left the crowded club leaving Carla and Alton there to finish their drinks.

"You two are heading to Vale didn't you say?" The burly man asked the two Atlesian hunters as he polished an empty glass.

"Yep, with that search and rescue crew from Atlas," Alton answered.

"Keep an eye out for a second year hunter from Beacon, my son Yatsuhashi, about seven feet tall, uses a giant sword. His team never made it out. I knew I shouldn't have let him move in with his mother in Vale."

"He was on team CFVY right?" Carla asked recognizing the name from when Weiss had called them earlier to ask them to look out for their friends.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"His team was good friends of a few of our friends, they asked us to look for them. They'll probably be closer to Beacon and that's where we're searching and the ships are coming back to Mistral to drop off whoever we find so we'll send him straight to ya when we find him," Alton nodded confidently.

"That's good, his mother made it out and she's in Vacuo right now but she hadn't seen him since that last match of the tournament."

"We'll find him sir."

"Thank you, I always supported him becoming a hunter, I used to be one before I settled down with this place."

"I can't think of ever being anything else but it's good that you've found something to do despite your injury," Carla said.

"How'd you know?" The man asked putting a hand to his left leg reflexively.

"Look at me, I've got one arm left, I can spot another amputee easy enough."

"I didn't even see in the light, how'd you lose both legs and your arm?"

"Those riots a few weeks back, I got caught in one of the initial explosions."

"It's a shame to see good kids like you getting hurt at such a young age, I was thirty five when I lost my leg to a deathstalker, and you're what? Twenty and being a triple amputee?"

"Eighteen actually."

"You're a lot younger than you look. Your friend here younger than he looks too? He must be at least twenty five."

"Nope, nineteen. She's actually my adopted sister."

"Siblings tend to drag each other into that kinda stuff. You two be safe in Vale now, ya hear? I've got a club to run in the meantime."

"Alright old timer, we'll come back here once we're back."

"You'd better come back with my son too," the man chuckled, "Oh I forgot to give you my name, it's Senotakai, just a call me Seno though."

"My name's Carla, this is Alton. We'll be back!"

"I'm sure you will."

* * *

The sun had just begun to rise when the Tödlich Flüstern departed for Vale, all crew back from shore leave and ammunition and supply stocks full it would only be a matter of hours before they arrived in the infested city. Two of the other ships had already reached their destination and were setting up advance camps along the docks where the Grimm were thinnest. With nothing to do to pass the time team ANCT sat in a briefing hall watching the various ground squad commanders explain the operations overlying objective to their men. Having already briefed their assigned squad on the mission Alton studied a map of the area they'd be searching: the suburban and industrial areas closest to Beacon and the wreckage of one of the crashed ships that had been hijacked during the attack.

"Cream, how nice of you to join us. You're assigned to our squad, right?" Alton asked the pilot who nodded in response.

"Didn't you serve aboard the Blitz Träger?" Nadia asked speaking about the ship they'd be searching.

"Yes, I had only just been transferred there from the academy when we shipped out for Beacon," Creams scroll spoke for her.

"You'll know where the black box is then, that'll make this easier. Now we'll know what virus took over all our automated systems during the attack."

 **"Approaching deployment zones, all crew to ready positions,"** the ship wide intercom relayed a message prompting all crew that would be staying aboard to move to their various posts and all the ground troops to get to their dropships and transports.

"Let's move people, no time to waste," Alton stood up and marched out of the briefing room his team and Cream behind him.

Aboard the heavily armored troop transport nicknamed the Schild by the soldiers that used them their design had remained hardly changed since they'd been invented, broad and short, crammed full of seats for soldiers, and few light armaments as it's greatest weapon was it's speed and weight; a manned battering ram essentially. Their ship landed with a heavy thud and the heavy double layered door opened, the first door dropping down forming a ramp, and the second opening outwards to form cover for their flanks.

"Fireteam Beta, move out!" Alton ordered their men and as a single unit they move forward and spread out in a search pattern.

"Carla, get Tiphany onto the roofs she'll keep watch up there, Nadia watch our six. Once you're done Carla you take a scouting position."

"Understood," Carla nodded and quickly grappled up onto the rooftops with her partner before jumping back down and sprinting to the front of the formation.

Nadia slowly fell back taking a rearguard position leaving Alton in the center of the fireteam to give orders. Twenty five men in an arrowhead formation filling the street moved up the road towards the Beacon campus. Above the low rows of apartments and homes the wreckage of the Blitz Träger could be seen amongst the smokestacks and factories of the industrial sector. To the west howls of Grimm and weapon fire could be heard but it was too far off to be of any concern and was most likely one of the other search groups. Around them the buildings became ever increasingly run down and damaged, bullet holes scattering the faces of a once bustling populated area. The battle that once took place grew ever more evident when bullet shells on the ground became so plentiful that the jingle jangle of spent brass clinking underfoot became commonplace.

"Movement, two clicks southeast and closing!" Tiphany shouted from the rooftop.

"Grimm?" Alton called back.

"Nope, looks mechanical! It's approaching the intersection up ahead!"

"Anti armor weapons at the ready! Nadia get up here! It's a paladin, there are still some active around here with that virus controlling them."

Taking a defensive position the white armored soldiers prepared their heavy ordinance to fight the armored mech. The clanking of rusty steel on cobblestones grew louder until the war machine smashed through a the corner as it screeched to a halt attempting to turn. Its movements almost bestial in nature the paladin charged the soldiers ahead of it its weapons damaged and inoperable with age but it's weight and speed allowed it to do plenty of damage otherwise. The first rocket that impacted tore through the rusting metal like paper ripping its gatling gun arm off its hinges. A volley of rockets from Nadia hit its torso directly causing the robot to stagger backwards and lose all of its momentum. The roar of dozens of rockets flying from their tubes filled the air before a cacophony of explosions rang out and echoed throughout the ruined town once the hijacked mecha was a steaming pile of scrap.

"One roadblock scrapped, now let's hope there aren't anymore around here," Alton relaxed and holstered the two halves of Abbysus Ignis the rest of the fireteam following suit slinging the standard issue anti armor launchers over their backs and bringing their rifles to bear.

"Alton do you read?" Winter spoke through the radio earpiece they all wore due to the lack of CCT service in the area.

"Loud and clear Captain, what's up?"

"We've got sights on a massive group of Grimm moving towards you from the north, get your men to cover we're sending in a bombing party. I'm sure you'll recognize these ships."

"Understood ma'am. Everybody get in that warehouse, we've got a bombing run coming through here soon!" Alton ordered as he looked to the sky seeing nothing besides the three warships patrolling the area.

"Alton, we're all on the same radio channel and I know what Winter meant by we'd recognize the bombers," Nadia slid down a pile of rubble she'd been standing on to talk to her partner.

"What does it mean?"

"Atlas is now technically at war which explains the mountain vaporizing super weapon but it also means that all reserve units such as our dedicated ground armies and certain special ops battalions. In this case they've brought in a squadron of the Nacht Hexen."

"The Night Witches? Weren't they disbanded after the Great War because of some kind of scandal amongst their ranks?"

"It started with their commander seducing the general of the times daughter which led to charges of bigotry the investigation of which brought to light various hate crimes through the attempt to cover those up an attempted assault happened which was thwarted through a gruesome charge of manslaughter, in the end all charges were dropped for the Night Witches and the generals daughter after the poor girl slit the incestual bastards throat and married the commander. They were all reinstated of their previous ranks two years later but only as a propaganda unit but about eight years ago General Ironwood decided they'd be a combat unit once again causing a spike in enlistment into the Night Witches. Now that we're at war with the White Fang and unofficially at war with Salem they're back in active duty."

"It doesn't look like they're bombin anything right now," Alton said unimpressed as the sky remained empty until Nadia spotted something and pointed out a slight wavering in the air.

Almost instantaneously the sky seemed to peel open revealing the previously cloaked trio of bombers with their swept forward wings and flush bomb bay doors opening revealing stake like explosives ready to be dropped. Falling away in rows the bombs dropped quickly whistling the whole way before they hit the ground exploding on impact and shredding the Grimm with howls of pain, shrapnel pelting the streets unrelentingly. The rumble of explosions could be felt by Fireteam Beta even almost three miles south of the thunderous bombing run. The angular ships made a slow sweeping turn before coming around for another pass their hidden gun emplacements popping from the hull and turning to shred the few wounded Grimm remaining. As the early morning light reflected just right the visage of a witch clad in black robes holding a stick of dynamite could be seen on the nose of the leading craft as they flew silently just above the rooftops before angling off and heading back to the carrier class airship that watched the coast.

Nadia felt for her earbud and switched it over to the channel the bombers would be on, "Nice pass there, you might have missed a spot though."

"You want us to check again to make sure? Say three miles south of there?" The flight leader responded with evident sarcasm.

"I think we can handle it, glad to see the Nacht Hexen back in action."

"It's good to actually be doing something. You need anymore air support just call, we'll be there before you know it."

"Can do, Coven Leader," Nadia replied with the traditional callsign of the Night Witches commander who she had recognized as the flight leader by the nose art.

"You got a callsign hunter?"

"Sky Serpent."

"Ah, the pilot of the infamous Adder, a Frankenstein of a ship, kind of you to test those new engines we just got."

"It was nothing, Sky Serpent out."

"Understood, Coven Leader out."

Nadia squealed when she turned off her headset, "Oh. My. Gods. That was like meeting my childhood hero. She's so cool! I wonder if we'll ever meet in person? It doesn't matter, that was cool enough for me to never need to talk to her again, that was more than I deserve."

"Those bombers have some really new cloaking tech. I don't think anything I've ever seen was that good."

"They've got all the best stuff."

"We need to get back to the mission, you can take rear guard again."

"Sure thing, babe," Nadia walked after him nonchalantly.

The armed formation made good time after that encountering only a few Grimm despite getting ever closer to the Beacon campus that had become a Grimm spawning ground beneath the frozen gaze of the dragon. Eventually reaching the wreckage of the Blitz Träger the cleared crash site spanned almost a mile in length suggesting that the thousand foot craft scraped the ground for five times its length before settling. Shards of armor plating stuck out of the charred dirt shoots of grass through the last snow of winter. Gaping holes were evident against the far from pristine metal. Alton ordered the fireteam to search the intact portions of the ship while his team and Cream went to retrieve the black box.

Cream signed something and allowed Tiphany to translate for her.

"She says it should be directly under the captains seat. Nadia will you do the honors?" Tiphany waved the gradient haired huntress forward.

Nadia held her kanabo with both hands to wind up the swing before knocking the swiveling chair clean through the shattered bridge window.

"Fore!"

"Alright let's get this thing out of here, Tiphany make sure the data's intact and the virus doesn't try to erase anything, we don't know what could happen," Alton warned as he stepped towards the hidden compartment that housed the black box.

Cream stepped away from the team as they attempted to remove the device and swinging a satchel off her shoulder walked out onto the deck where immediately a scrap of bright sliver cloth caught her eye against the dull greys and browns of the crash site. Treading lightly so as not to draw attention Cream reaches the sharp section of hull stuck in the ground that the fluttering cloth was stuck on. Gently she removed the scrap to find that is was what she was looking for, a scarf. Glancing around nervously Cream continued once she knew the coast was clear, bracing herself for what she'd find she rounded the edge of the damaged metal to find a pile of bloodied white cloth hanging off of a pipe leaning against the wreckage. Picking up the cloth she recognized it as a coat and the pipe as a cane. Overcome with emotion the petite pilot crumpled to the ground to pick up the final object, a bowler hat with a single red ribbon. A silent sob racked her body and the illusion faded revealing not a young soldier but a broken criminal in hiding. Pink and brown eyes blinked away tears as the girl slowly came to her feet, memories of a lost friend still clutched tightly in her arms. Putting the hat on her own head not for the first time she took a polished lighter from the pocket she knew it would be in and seeing her own reflection wearing the hat smiled, a weak smile but a smile nonetheless. Knowing that he was still with her she allowed her semblance to reset itself going back to the persona of Cream she stuffed the items into the satchel before setting off to reunite with team ANCT.

Tiphany signed to Cream upon her return, _"You good?"_

 _"Yeah, just finding a couple of mementoes,"_ Cream patted the satchel swinging on her hip.

 _"Take your time."_

 _"Thank you."_

"Alright let's move out, black box is secure and all important secondary objectives are secured," Alton stepped out of the abandoned bridge with his team close behind.

After regrouping with the fireteam Alton was contacted by Winter once again.

"Your team needs to go into Beacon. No further than the CCT, Ironwood needs you to search the area around it for the relic vault, we're not sure if Salem has it," Winter relayed the orders.

"Understood, we'll send our men back to keep this a bit less conspicuous."

"Good, the less who know about it the better. Good luck down there, from the looks of it our activities are starting to stir up the Grimm around there."

"We've noticed," Alton looked around at a few fading Grimm corpses in the wake of a small attack on his group, "Fireteam Beta signing off."

Alton cut the connection and nodded to his soldiers who had heard enough of the conversation to know they needed to return to the ship now that their part of the job was over.

"Cream, as the highest ranking besides us you're in command until extraction."

The pale blonde girl nodded and signaled for the men to get into formation before marching off down the road they came from. Alton turned and drew his weapons in case they encountered more Grimm on the way to the center of Beacon. Looking up they could see the tower above the campus with the dragon perched menacingly above.

"Let's hope that thing doesn't wake up," Alton muttered before stepping over the edge of the crater made by the crashed airship.

As the team created the piled earth they found a large pack of Grimm awaiting them. Quickly dispatching the weaker Grimm only two alpha beowolves and an ursa remained.

"Come at me ugly!" Carla shouted at the ursa as she recklessly rushed it which didn't seem as reckless once she slid under its legs an turned firing her grappling hook into its neck allowing her to give it a surprise lobotomy with her dual cleavers.

One of the alpha beowolves was locked in a struggle with Nadia who was holding it back with Sanguis Fons using both hands to brace the hexagonal spiked bat until Tiphany put a slug in the Grimm's leg causing it to stumble and let Nadia draw her pistol and put a round in its skull. Leaving the last beowolf to Alton his team watched as he reappeared from thin air behind it before lifting it into the air with Abbysus Ignis in its double naginata form being used like a pike. The Grimm disintegrated and collapsed onto the bladed polearm.

Carla leaned next to Tiphany and whispered into her girlfriend's ear, "That's what I'm doing to you tonight," Carla turned with a cheeky grin to see her partner blushing profusely at the mental image.

"Let's keep moving, only more Grimm will turn up if we don't keep going," Nadia said having used her semblance to get a good idea of where the Grimm around them were holed up.

"No time to waste!" Carla said bounding ahead cheerfully despite the apocalyptic landscape of ruined school buildings and torn landscaping.

* * *

"How goes the operation?" Sal Acajou jumped at the sudden appearance of a hologram of Adam from his scroll.

"Well, almost all the charges are set, we're leaving some of the positions intact as you ordered so we can use them to shell any reinforcements," the heavy set rhino Faunus held up a pair of dust charges he was placing on the automated defense station built into a rocky hill along the shore of the Scarlet Sea.

"Good, you've never let me down Sal, try not to this time."

"Never Supreme Leader, I will lay down my own life to ensure victory for the White Fang."

"As will we all to ensure freedom for our people."

"I will leave you to this now, I have an important announcement to make in the meantime."

"As you wish, Supreme Leader."

* * *

"Will there be anything else ma'am?"

Jaune glanced over at the young man who entered the sitting room where he was sitting across from a tall and muscular redhead. He'd finally found the large estate in the more unsettled part of the small island containing Mistrals capital after a day and a half of searching.

"Yes that will be all, you can go now Ypretis. Make sure no one disturbs us please."

"Understood ma'am. Enjoy your drinks," the young man turned and closed the doors behind him leaving Jaune with the woman he'd been introduced to as Hestia Nikos.

"Now, you have yet to tell me your name boy, though I know who you are."

"Of course you do. My name is Jaune, Jaune Arc. I was the leader of the team your daughter was on at Beacon."

"As I thought. She certainly thought a lot of you, she wrote often and most of the letters concerned you. Tell me, why do you think you are worthy of being here after you failed my daughter, your partner? You meant much more to her than many others, because you saw her as a person rather than a symbol."

"Yeah, I had no idea she was famous until she pointed it out. And I'm sorry for letting her die, there was nothing I could do to stop her, she pushed me into a locker and took off," Jaune muttered something that could not be heard clearly.

"What was that?"

"I said 'After she kissed me of course', she kissed me before she left to fight Cinder."

"Ah, that explains why she seemed so interested in you. Nikosi women tend to choose their men so it is not unusual. But what was the point of leaving you by yourself to fight this woman alone, what was there to gain by leaving you? Surely if you had gone my daughter would have lived?"

"I'm not a good fighter, she was teaching me. I only would have gotten in her way, she always did put my safety over her own. Cinder is no ordinary person either, by that point she'd already killed the headmaster but there's more than that, I'm sure you've heard the tale of the maidens?"

"Yes, it was Pyrrha's favorite story."

"Well it's real and Cinder had just taken the fall maidens powers just before they would have been given to Pyrrha. She thought it was her fault and wanted to face the consequences herself."

"The maidens are real, and my daughter was to be one. I will not concern myself with that, what I'd like to know is how you have the gall to undertake the sacred right of wearing the armor of a fallen Nikosi warrior!"

Jaune seemed unshaken by the outburst from the angered mother, "When we became a team we became family. We spent time learning about each other and our backgrounds including our respective cultures and practices. I know that the practice of giving remaining armor from a fallen ally goes to the closest friend at the time of death, and that goes to me. I wasn't happy about it, I certainly didn't like the idea of using the one thing that was left of her in such a way but it was my only option! It would have made her happy, she said so herself in a recording we found on her scroll," Jaune wiped a couple of tears from his face, eyes red with sadness and defiance.

"I don't doubt this, it seems like something she would do. It's a shame that more or her armor didn't survive, the original armor without the upgrades was flimsy enough as it is," Hestia stood up and inspected the armor that Jaune wore.

"Ah I see, most of the metal went towards your weapon, it is definitely much improved since what I saw of it during the tournament. I'm guessing you have a strong aura to have such weaker armor?"

"Yeah, I didn't even know what aura was until Pyrrha helped me unlock mine."

"Truly clueless, she always did have a thing for idiots, though you don't seem to be the typical kind, there's something more about you, something less innocent. I cannot discern it and I'm sure you are not willing to give up such a secret so I will cease my queries, now please let us speak of nicer things."

"Gladly, what was Pyrrha like before Beacon? She seemed very odd around people not very close to her."

"That is a bit of a longer story and may require her fathers assistance in telling, if you stay for dinner he will have returned from his hunt and you can meet some of the rest of the family."

"That would be great Mrs. Nikos."

"Then come, dinner is nearly ready and it's going to be a proper post hunt feast tonight!"

* * *

Timbers creaked in the wind as a storm slowly kicked up around the ruins of Beacon. Stepping over piles of shattered glass and concrete team ANCT made their way through the destroyed school. Having just gotten past the infested dorms that had almost entirely been turned into a series of spawning pits they reached the cafeteria next to the CCT.

"Man I recognize that handiwork," Alton gasped noticing a perfect cut through the far wall and some of the ceiling of the dining hall.

"Adam?" Nadia asked.

"Yep."

"Hey look at this!" Carla cried drawing their attention to the center of the building.

There on the dusty tiled floor but still evident after a year were a pair of bloodstains, one starting a couple of feet away from the other and dripping towards it before merging into one and turning into a trail of blood leading to the cliffs edge next to the once bustling school.

"I wonder who this came from?" Tiphany said jerking a thumb at a fleshless skeletal hand with a golden bracelet around its wrist.

"Oh. Oh shit! She's gonna love this," Carla said laughing as she picked up the long discarded limb, gauntlet and all.

"God damn it Carla, you're gonna traumatize the poor girl all over again," Nadia said barely holding in laughter as the bionic Faunus waved the bone hand around jokingly.

"Whatever, stick that somewhere and let's keep moving, we've still got to get back by sun down so the Grimm don't get to riled up. We've got about three hours," Alton said glancing at his scroll.

"Let's keep moving then!" Nadia said hefting Sanguis Fons onto her shoulder.

After a half hour of walking with almost no Grimm activity to be seen they reached the CCT. Pushing through the long shattered glass doors they scanned the dead computer banks for anything interesting before continuing to the elevator.

"Down first, then up," Alton said gesturing down the empty shaft.

"Me first!" Carla said jumping excitedly into the pitch black hole that was only slightly dim to her.

With a crash of shattered concrete and tearing steel Carla landed on the destroyed elevator at the bottom which awakened the dozens of Grimm denning in the basement of the tower.

"Die! Die! Die!" Carla shouted spinning and firing off Libertas Lupus in all directions blowing Grimm to bits and raising a cloud of dust all around.

"All clear?" Tiphany shouted down.

"This hole is the second cleanest hole I've ever seen!"

"What's the first?" Tiphany asked as she dropped into sight.

"I'm looking right at it," Carla said staring at Tiphany as she climbed off the collapsed elevator.

"I walked right into that one."

"Literally, also there's absolute jackshit down here so time to go back up."

"Seriously?" Tiphany protested as they began the climb back up to their team.

Once they reached the opening int the shaft the whole team continued upwards until they reached the remains of the top floor where Ozpins office once was. Rubble was piled everywhere except the ledge upon which the Grimm dragon remained frozen. The entire floor had been swept clean by the battle of titans that had taken place almost a year before.

"Welp this place is clear, let's get a good look at the view while we're here though," Alton said hoisting himself over the edge.

"Ooh, big dragon," Carla said wandering over to the massive Grimm.

"Carla!" Tiphany scolded.

Carla turned from where she was inches from poking the open eye of the Grimm that still glowed faintly red, "What? I was just gonna poke it."

"Don't."

"Okay, you're no fun."

"Look at that, it was probably a great view when it was all intact," Alton said looking out over the once great kingdom of Vale that stretched out below them.

As the team paused to take in the sight of the sun setting behind the horizon above the city the mood was ruined by the bright flash of an emergency flare in the very depths of Vales most urban areas. Even from that distance hundreds of Grimm could be swarming the air and ground around the location.

"Welp, back to it I guess," Alton said hopping off the edge of the tower.

"Goddamnit, one day his semblance isn't going to stop him from being turned to paste," Nadia said rushing to the elevator shaft to follow her partner.

"So, express route or pussy route?" Carla asked Tiphany.

"Express?"

"I drop down with you in my arms, these legs can withstand the impact."

"Express it is," Tiphany said shrugging allowing the younger huntress to pick her up bridal style.

"Down we go!" Carla said jumping off the CCT Tiphany screaming with excitement the whole way down.

"Let's move out, double time!" Alton said sprinting off in the direction of the flare down in the city.

"Carla could you put me down?"

"Nope," Carla kept pace with her leader via great leaping strides of her powerful mechanical legs.

"Why am I the slowest?" Nadia gasped for air trying to catch up with the rest of her team.

"Nah that's me," Tiphany said as she allowed herself to be carried.

"Need a lift?" Alton said suddenly appearing beneath Nadia in a burst of his semblance lifting her up onto his shoulders.

"Thanks."

"No problem, you don't weigh all that much anyways."

"Hey guys we've got Grimm incoming!" Tiphany warned leaning forward to get a good look at the massive street clogging pack of Grimm ahead of them.

* * *

"Brace!"

The screamed warning barely reached its targets ears before a single huge horn slammed into the makeshift barricade blocking the street. The Grimm resembling a rhino backed up to ready for another charge.

"The montoné is coming back, someone get team CFVY out here. The walls won't hold much longer!" A former bouncer in a tattered tuxedo shouted to another defender who had been knocked from the battlements by the jarring impact.

"They're out cold after last night, they've barely had any rest for almost a week!"

"So what? We can't do this alone, they're our only chance."

"Fuck, fine I'll see if I can wake them," the second former bouncer walked into the club that had been made into a shelter for some of the largest remaining groups of survivors in Vale.

Wading through the crowd of huddling and scared civilians the bouncer opened a door beside the bar into a back room. Inside was a private lounge that was now being used as a sleeping quarters for the only people that had kept them all from being killed long ago.

"Boss, Boss wake up," the bouncer tentatively shook Junior awake.

Waking with a start the mob boss and club owner glanced around at the sleeping teens around them before looking back to the bouncer, "Whats going on? How long have we been out?"

"It's been about ten hours since the last attack but the barricade is almost down and the Grimm just keep showing up, we need you and those hunters back out there."

Junior grimaced and looked to where team CFVY and his nieces lay unconscious scattered between a pair of couches and a large futon, "Give them some more time, I'll try to hold as best I can."

Junior stood slowly using his bat as a crutch for his sprained ankle and began to make his way outside. Once through the reinforced front doors he saw that the streets surrounding the club were filled with Grimm, even more than had been present in the area during the Fall. Leaning himself against a rusting pipe being used as a support for the barricades he readied his weapon in bazooka form and fired into the densest patches of Grimm taking out dozens with a single shot and taking out one of the montonés legs in the process.

"Gah," Junior snarled clutching at his injured leg as it had twisted slightly from the recoil of the shot.

"They're getting in!"

Juniors head snapped to the barricade where a hole was being broken and the Grimm were beginning to climb the wall in droves overwhelming the few defenders they had left after the increasingly violent attacks of the past few weeks. In an instant the Grimm were vaporized by a torrent of gunfire and defenders rushed back to repair the breach before the Grimm could take advantage of it again.

"We've slept enough," Coco growled despite the dark shadows beneath her eyes obscured by her sunglasses, "You got anything left, loves?"

"I'm sorry, no. I used the last of what I had yesterday," the rabbit Faunuses ears twitched nervously.

"I'm out of ammo so there's nothing I can do without getting in the middle of that," Fox gestured at the swarms of Grimm surrounding them.

"I'd go out but I'm afraid there might be too many even for me," Yatsuhashi muttered drawing his greatsword from his back warily.

"Where the hell are those Atlesians? We fired that flare ten minutes ago they should be here by now!" the bouncer complained as he fired his gun into the thickening horde.

"What the hell do you mean Atlesians? The last time an Atlesian was in Vale was when the last evacuations left," Junior said confused.

"This morning four Atlas warships showed up and started patrolling, so far a couple groups we know of have been picked up but no one has come close to us yet. They've done a couple bombing runs here and there but none of the patrols have even looked at us."

"Damn, they had to have seen that flare though!"

Heart wrenching howls tore the air as something began to stir up the waiting Grimm in the back of the ranks. The shrill whistle of rockets could be heard from less than a block away.

Velvet cocked her head to the side trying to see where the sound was coming from, "It's coming towards us from the East!"

Team CFVY scrambled up the battlements to see what was attacking the Grimm and there in the dead center of hundreds of Grimm was a four person hunter team clearing a path quickly and efficiently.

"Come on let's clear those crazy fuckers a path!" Coco shouted bringing her minigun to fire into the Grimm evaporating dozens with every second the massive gun fired.

"Hey you guys aren't dead yet! That's good!" Carla shouted at the defending hunters in training.

"Who the hell do we have the pleasure of speaking to right now?" Coco shouted back once she stopped firing to let the barrels cool.

"Team ANCT! Qualified hunters and badasses extraordinaire! We're here to save your asses!" Alton shouted as he cut through Grimm with violent efficiency, "Mind giving us a hand though? We'll get there eventually but it'll be faster with some help."

"You heard the man, let's clear a path!" Coco ordered her team who moved into action immediately, Fox and Yatsu jumping the barricade and destroying the nearest Grimm to open up the way while Coco thinned our the street ahead of ANCT.

Velvet fidgeted nervously with no way to help despite her martial arts prowess there was no way she could fight that many Grimm.

"Alright let's do this!" Alton screamed a battle cry and charged through the last Grimm activating his semblance and slicing every Grimm within twenty feet into void ribbons in the blink of an eye.

"Move, move!" Nadia shouted pushing up with her partner swinging Sanguis Fons wildly at any Grimm that dared reach for her.

Team ANCT reached the gate as hundreds of felled Grimm disappeared in their wake. Once within the defenses they began asking questions.

"How many people have you got in here?" Alton asked Junior.

"I don't know, at least a hundred, we've been running out of supplies a lot quicker since we picked up a couple dozen about a month back."

"I need specific numbers."

"Gimme a minute. Hey could you count how many people we got in there?" Junior asked the bouncer who nodded and ran inside before coming back out five minutes later.

"We've got a hundred and fifty three counting all the defenders."

"Damn, we'll need three ships. Try and clear the area the best you can we're getting everyone outta here."

"May I suggest something Chief?" Nadia spoke up.

"Go ahead."

"I know a couple of witches who could make this problem disappear," Nadia snapped her fingers.

"Call them in. Everybody inside! Nadia get to the roof and contact those witches! Now!" Alton said as he ushered the exhausted defenders into the fortified club.

Inside the club the stench of almost two hundred tightly packed bodies was overwhelming but it was better than getting blown up.

"Coven Leader, this is Sky Serpent, we could use a little assistance down here."

"Sky Serpent, this is Coven Leader, we read you loud and clear. What seems to be the problem?"

"We've got a large group of survivors that need exfil but the streets are flooded with Grimm, so we need a precision run down this street, don't hit the building I'm on, just the Grimm in the street."

"Got it, beginning run now, coordinates sent to command for exfil. Going in."

The cloaked bomber flew low, just a couple of feet above the rooftops with its sister ships just behind. Cloaking fields fell as bomb compartments opened revealing racks upon racks of shaped charges designed to deal concentrated damage to infantry units and little to no collateral damage. The charges fell into the Grimm filled streets detonating in the order that they were dropped leaving a wave of smoke down the street after the bombers pulled out of the run.

"How's that?" Coven Leader asked over radio.

"Perfect," Nadia said giving the ok hand signal as the bombers flew back over to admire their handiwork, a few remaining Grimm but most were heavily injured and disintegrated shortly after.

"The dropships are inbound, but all this activity is riling up some nasty stuff in the ocean so the whole formation is ditching this place after the last ships are aboard, make sure you're on them."

"Got it," Nadia hopped from the roof of the club and stepping over a small crater walked into the barely scratched building.

A few minutes of anxious waiting and fighting to stay awake on team CFVY's part yielded to the roar of thrusters outside heralding the arrival of three large evacuation craft similar to the transports used during the Vytal festival only more well armored and less comfortable. The ships landed in the wide street and the shell shocked survivors were led aboard where they were given food and clean water after almost a year of scrounging for scraps. Team ANCT boarded one of the crafts and looking over the people they'd saved, men, women, children, all safe thanks to them. In a corner near the ramp team CFVY was slumped asleep on top of each other weapons still in hand. Clinging to each other even in sleep as if the Grimm would arrive and steal them away during their dreams.

"They deserve some rest," Alton said pointing to the team.

"Their lives have been hell for a year, they deserve **all** the rest," Nadia said.

"Yeah, you're right about that."

 **Authors notes:**

This is why you don't date snake girls Alton

PTSD fucking sucks

Can't imagine how having to kill a child at the ripe old age of 13 would fuck you up

Foreshadowing intensifies

Casually lewd Renora is the content I live for

Romantic foreshadowing intensifies

More Renora for the soul

And they're gone

The virus is still going strong in the remaining robots

Night witches reference because I can and they're going to be recurring characters

Haha, character reveal! It's not like it wasn't obvious though

Emotional Neo makes me cry

Smol ice cream girl deserved better

To quote Vinny Santorini "Oh, eh, gunpowder, nitroglycerin, **notepads** , fuses, wicks, glue, and paperclips, big ones. Just eh, standard office supplies."

Jaune meets mama Nikos and she's angry

Not so angry now though

Flashback intensifies

Anybody need a _hand_

Don't poke the damn dragon

Down, up, down

Boy I was running

Team CFVY!

Not so subtle polyamorous team CFVY

Boom

And they're gone

I really liked writing this chapter it was pretty equal in fluff, angst, and plot progression, not a lot of smut but that's next chapter

As always thanks to all of you who read this and especially everyone who follows and favorites, reviews are my favorite thing of all, I just love seeing what you have to say!

For the next two to four week period of inactivity until I write a whole chapter in a night you'll just have to wait


	16. Wrap it up

It took all night and well into the morning for all of the refugees from Vale to be unloaded and supplies with food, water, and beds. The majority of the wounded and exhausted were staying in Haven until they were given somewhere else while others with friends or family in Mistral stayed there. Team CFVY had settled into the spare loft above Yatsuhashi's fathers club where they currently slept soundly after having stayed up for almost sixteen hours straight since arriving the evening before. It seemed surreal to them that it hadn't even been a day since they'd been rescued from the hellscape of the former kingdom. The four of them slept in a chaotic pile atop the large bed in the dim attic. Velvet wriggle out from underneath one of her boyfriends and found Coco sitting up off to the side looking through news articles on her scroll.

"What's up?" Velvet muttered sleepily as she crawled over to her girlfriend.

"Just catching up on what we missed, trying to find out what's going on with some things I've noticed."

"So, what've we missed?"

"Well about fourth different villages within Vales borders have been wiped out or forced away, Mistral had a massive White Fang led riot a month ago but it was handled pretty well and the counterattack against the Fang took out a pretty valuable base of theirs. A couple days later a leviathan showed up in the sea but was taken out by the Tödlich Flüstern-"

"The ship that picked us up."

"Yeah. Two days ago a bunch of villages here in Mistral were attacked by the White Fang specifically a bunch of villages belonging to the Branwen tribe. Along with all that a new Faunus rights group called the Pack has showed up and its being led by the Belladonna family of Menagerie. They're currently here in Mistral to help with repairs after the White Fang riots."

"Anything else about them?" Velvet said her ears peeking up.

"One second," Coco said selecting another article, "Here, the Pack was formed after an attack on the Belladonna family home in Menagerie by the White Fang. After the attackers were fended off by the family and their guards on of the attackers came forward and renounced the Fang publicly for their goals of extreme violence against humans to make Faunus the dominant species. The Pack has human and Faunus members and their primary goal is improving life for Faunus and everyone else with them. The first step is stopping the White Fang but they will only resort to violence in defense or protecting others."

"Sounds cool, I'm joining."

"Good luck finding someone to sign up with, the Belladonna family is still in Menagerie according to this and no other commanders are known as of yet."

"Wait, Belladonna right? Are they in any way related to a Blake Belladonna?" Velvet asked realizing the shared name.

"Yes actually, Blake Belladonna, daughter to Kali and Ghira Belladonna chieftain of Menagerie. She's not in Menagerie, she's here in Mistral."

"Sweet, I've got her number!"

"Who is she exactly?"

"First year, member of team RWBY. Absolutely kicked butt in the tournament. Also a Faunus but I promised not to tell anyone while she was hiding it."

"Well she's not hiding it anymore there's a couple pictures from a brief interview and she's not wearing that bow she used to at Beacon."

"Yeah she was kinda like me at first, until you stole my beret," Velvet glared at Coco who smiled back at her rabbit girlfriend.

"You needed to get over it somehow and I helped, plus you look better without it and I look better with it."

Suddenly a heavily scarred hand plopped onto Velvets head and started rubbing her ears.

"Glad to see you're awake Fox," Coco said looking over Velvets reclining form to see their blind boyfriend reaching out from beneath the gargantuan Yatsuhashi.

"You need some help there?" Velvet asked turning to see his predicament.

"Yes," came his muffled response.

"Sorry about this big guy," Coco said flipping Yatsu onto is stomach and almost off of the bed.

"How is he still sound asleep?" Fox gasped as he got free of their massive boyfriend.

"Hell if I know, anybody up for breakfast?" Coco suggested.

"Breakfast?" Yatsuhashi asked sitting bolt upright.

"And the sleeping giant awakens! Come on we're getting something to eat, and put some clothes on you'll knock someone's eye out going in public with that monster swinging around," Velvet joked before stretching and walking over to where their bare essential belongings were piled and dug out her clothes.

"Just stay naked a bit longer, please," Fox pleased as he stood too.

"You can't even see me," Velvet scoffed blushing nonetheless.

"Doesn't mean you're not hotter without clothes."

"Oh I get it," Coco said realizing the blind boys joke about his semblance of thermal vision.

"Sorry, both of you, I'm getting dressed."

"Aw man," Coco groaned before hauling herself from the bed as well.

The four of them prepared for the day and just as they were about to leave the loft Coco got a message on her scroll.

"It's from Alton, the leader of that team that saved our asses yesterday, let's see, he says if we haven't had breakfast yet they're nearby and they've got a couple friends we might want to see."

"I wonder who that could be?" Velvet said knowing full well who it was having overheard the team talking about them during the rehabilitation of the refugees.

"You know, don't you?" Fox said seeing right through her.

"Yeah, it's too hard to keep a secret when you can tell if I'm lying Fox."

"Can't help it," he shrugged, "Who is it?"

"Team RWBY, well three of them, apparently Blake isn't back with them yet, you might not want to mention it I think Yang's sore about it."

"The two were close partners, I can understand why after what happened," Yatsuhashi rumbled.

"So we meeting with team ANCT or not?" Coco asked.

"Why the hell not?" Fox said.

* * *

"It's about time you guys got here!" Carla shouted as RW_Y came into view, "CFVY should be here any minute now, plus I've got Yang a present from Vale."

"What'd you get me?" Yang asked confused as she sat down at the outdoor cafes table team ANCT was waiting at.

Carla pulled out the thing she'd been hiding since she got back from Vale and threw it on the table with a clattering noise leaving Yang shocked with a face between disgust and surprise.

"What the fuck? What the actual fuck?!" Yang shouted in confusion at the skeletal arm that was no doubt hers that had been thrown on the table, "Is that my arm?"

"What? You looked like you could use a hand. I got the other half of Ember Celica back with it too," Carla smiled gesturing at the still armed weapon on the hand.

"Gods that is hilarious," Yang laughed, "Hey Ruby look, I'm armed again!" Yang waved the hand around.

"That is gross," Weiss said as she sat down next to Ruby who looked at the hand with fascination.

"You could attach that half of Ember Celica to your new arm," Ruby said in realization.

"Yo, I totally could, it's already got a gun built in I'd just need to refit the system."

"Here come our new friends," Alton said waving to team CFVY as they came down the street.

"I see you've got your arm back," Coco said trying to suppress laughter at the blondes situation.

"Yep, now I'm gonna keep it, maybe. Actually I could just give it its own little grave by itself. Here lies Yang's right arm," Yang envisioned.

"You two are idiots," Weiss muttered flipping through a menu on the table.

"So why'd you call us here? We've pretty much gotten caught up on current events and our teams were never too close to begin with," Coco asked.

"Why not now? We're all stuck here in Mistral and it's not like there's anything better to do than get to know someone who just got back," Ruby said.

"She's not wrong," Velvet said, "School's not in session at Haven for a month and there's really not a whole lot to do beside missions."

"Exactly! So why not make some new friends to hang out with?" Alton chimed in.

"I'm still not sure if we should trust you, Fox what do you think?" Coco said looking at team ANCT dubiously.

"They seem trustworthy enough but they're definitely hiding something."

"Everyone has secrets," Carla said faking a smile.

"Especially Velvet, those are some rather scandalous images on your scroll," Tiphany said casually, "Shit, did I say that out loud?" Tiphany realized what she'd said while subconsciously looking through team CFVY's scrolls.

"Yeah you did, care explaining?" Coco growled stepping between her girlfriend and the green clad blonde.

"Sorry, I tend to snoop when I'm bored, it comes with having such a latent semblance as mine. Technology manipulation and communication is a rather unpredictable one too."

"You can see what's in our scrolls with your mind?"

"Not just scrolls, anything electronic basically. I can even remotely use toasters if I want, or make them explode by overloading the heat inhibitors."

"Any other dangerous semblance's we should be wary of?" Coco asked looking between team ANCT.

"Alton has the most straightforward, kinetic energy to speed transfer, I can attract or repel Grimm to a degree based off my mood, and Carla can influence other people's emotions but it's rather hard to control so she just doesn't use it often."

"Kinetic energy to speed is interesting, so you just absorb the energy output by the blows and bullets and turn them into speed for yourself?" Fox asked as he sipped a coffee he'd snagged before leaving the club.

"Basically, I can completely absorb the impact too causing it to do no damage whatsoever. The fastest I can get so far is fast enough to melt dirt into glass, see?" Alton said vibrating his hand to a point where the napkin he held burst into flames and burnt itself out against his aura which barely flickered at the heat.

"Couldn't you just punch yourself to go faster?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Technically yes, or I could shoot myself."

"Don't," Nadia said, "You did that once not realizing your aura was down and I had to pull it out, not fun."

"I remember that now."

The three teams talked for hours before splitting back up and returning to their various residences to train and pass the time. The next two days passed in a blur nothing of note happening. Eventually Friday dawned and things had begun to pick up, team ANCT was called out to deal with a minor White Fang attack on a dust mine near the far edge of the Scarlet sea, just close enough to see Mistral proper in the horizon.

"They've got hostages in the mines so we've got to keep it melee only to avoid blowing the whole place. Tiphany you'll sit up top and watch the entrance. We've got reports that at least five of the twenty miners are already dead but they took down some of the Fang with them. Expect heavy resistance as a location like this would not be taken without the resources to hold it," Alton briefed them once the Adder had landed down the shore from the inverted cliff side near the sea where the dust mine was located.

"Understood," Tiphany nodded along with the rest of the team before they marched out towards the objectives location.

They came in sight of the mine as they crested a rocky dune along the beach. The encampment was guarded by five armed White Fang members and a pair of hijacked Atlesian defense mecha. The spiderlike robots had positioned themselves on the side of the cliff overhanging the mine entrance.

"Tiphany, you get up there and take the one on the left, Nadia you take right, Carla and I will deal with the guards."

Tiphany and Nadia flanked around the encampment without being spotted and got on top of the cliff and dropped onto the unaware mecha with blunt weapons swinging. Carla and Alton rushed the guards at that exact moment Alton snapping the first ones neck and gutting another two while Carla body slammed one into a wall causing his spine to gain a couple extra bones before leaping atop the last guard and acquainting one of her cleavers with his sternum.

"Popped their aura like bubbles," Carla said wiping the blood off the cleaver she'd used with a cloth she kept on her at all times before doing the same to the blood that had pooled onto her right foot returning the metal to its usual dull chrome.

"All done there, nothing but scrap left," Nadia said picking a chunk of metal from one of the pointed warheads serving as spikes on her kanabo.

"Tiphany take the cliff. Let's move in," Alton said taking point as the three moved into the dimly lit mineshaft that slopes gently downward.

Following various twists and turns they eventually came to the main cavern where the dust was extracted. Lining the walls of the stone chamber were hairline veins of lightning dust the most common type in the area. In the very center of the chamber a small puddle sat and was surrounded by a lip of stone to which the remaining miners were chained. The pool of water was slowly filling with more as water dropped from the ceiling leading Alton to realize that the sea was directly above them. A burst of electricity went through the water causing one of the miners to flinch and yelp in fear.

"What did we say about keeping quiet until you decide to tell us what we want to know?" the White Fang member who spoke was a burly moose Faunus with massive antlers poking around his mask.

"T-that you-you'd kill us if we did?"

"Ding ding ding, correct answer!" The crack of a gunshot echoed through the chamber as the miner was shot where he sat and his limp body fell forward into the water instantly roasting him with the sheer amount of electric current running through it.

The other miners whimpered and clenched their mouths closed to stop fourther outbursts. The White Fang guards radio crackled and he brought it to his ear.

"What's going on down there guys? It's getting lonely up here with these human scum, I might just kill another if you don't hurry up."

"We can't find shit man! It's just rocks and dust down here."

"Bullshit, there's supposed to be a cache of weapons down here somewhere! We have orders to find those weapons or die trying."

"I know, but we've been going in circles for hours and there's nothing here."

"Gods damn-urk!" the guards curse was cut off by a knife going through his jugular.

Alton turned to look at Nadia who had thrown the offending knife.

"What? They won't get here in time anyways."

"Whatever, that guy said something about a weapons cache?"

"Abandoned Mantle weapons cache from before the Great War, left here when Mistral gained independence. Most likely chemical weapons, gaseous form dust, mustard gas, chlorine, your typical international law breaking stuff," Nadia explained, "This kinda shit was made illegal and decommissioned after the Great War due to massive civilian casualties. Various anti government factions and outlaws have continued to use them since."

"Gaseous dust? Like invisible until you're inhaling it and somebody strike a match causing an instant explosion?" Carla asked.

"Basically, gravity was particularly popular because it crushed your organs as it accumulated inside you," Nadia said remembering some of the older photos she'd seen of the aftermath of many battles throughout the Great War .

"We'll deal with that later for now let's free these hostages," Alton said moving up and cutting the miners loose and allowing them to get away from the rising water.

"Carla get these people out of here, we'll deal with the rest of the Fang."

"Sure thing," Carla said as she began to lead the miners out of the tunnels.

"Let's make sure they don't get those weapons," Nadia said heading into the tunnel branching off from the cavern.

"Something's up," Tiphany muttered concentrating her semblance to see if she could find anything resembling the defense systems of the weapons caches.

"Can't find it?" Carla asked from beside her.

"No it's there, there's just a lot of interference around it, like a system but there's no rhyme or reason it's just chaos. No code or order, just pure force."

"So it's not a computer?"

"No. It's definitely not a computer but that doesn't make sense, I can only see and interact with computers, this just seems to be purely physical."

"Try and mess with it? Where's the nearest part?"

"About four feet straight down from us."

"Gimme a second, I've got a hunch," Cara picked up one of the various drills lying around and started boring into the ground.

"You're getting closer, it's starting to reach out towards the drill."

"Fuck!" Carla dropped the drill and waved the smoke off her mechanical arm, "It's the dust."

"What?"

"You're sensing the dust in the ground, it's lightning dust."

"That doesn't explain how I can see it with my technology focused semblance."

"It's simple really, your semblance isn't tech focused. It's electricity focused and only recently has it grown strong enough to manipulate stronger less subtle electric impulses, it explains why you can control computers as they're really only a bunch of electricity going through a weird machine. Now you can control bigger electricity."

"I'm gonna test it," Tiphany began to focus and the sparks flickering along the stone beneath her was all the evidence she needed, "You're right."

"Sweet."

"Now how could I use this to help Alton and Nadia?"

"Overload the weapon caches defense system to blow up?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

"Hey guys?" Carla said into her mic.

"Yeah?" Alton answered through some minor static.

"Get out."

"What, why?"

"Tiphany's gonna blow the place."

"What, like she did you last night?" Nadia snorted through her mic.

"No, the tunnels are going sky high."

"Alright, this better not be a joke," Alton said as he and Nadia backtracked through the tunnels.

Eventually the couple emerged from the mineshaft and gave Tiphany the go ahead after she explained their theory. Blue sparks rippled across the ground and accumulated on the beach before beginning to arc violently as the sand melted around it.

"That it?" Altonasked as it died down.

"Nope," Tiphany said before snapping her fingers as the entire portion of beach erupted into an explosion of flames and sparks as the weapons cache caught fire and detonated bringing down entire portions of the tunnels especially under the water, "That'll flush em out."

"Bitch they're fucking dead as hell," Carla said laughing as she imagined the White Fangs fried corpses floating to the surface.

"I know, I just had to make the pun."

"Well it was rather shocking to find out you could do that," Alton deadpanned.

"So help me Alton I will collect the combined electrical output of your nervous system and zap you with it myself."

"You can do that?" Carla asked enthralled.

"I mean I can see the little impulses of his nerves sending information from part to part so in theory, yes."

"Sweet."

The team quickly finished clearing the area to make sure there wasn't anything they'd missed and once done took the remaining miners to the Adder to be taken back to Mistral. Once they'd finished they returned to the Tödlich Flüstern for debriefing.

"An old Mantle weapons cache?" Winter asked solemnly.

"Yes ma'am, it was destroyed luckily, don't know why they didn't do that in the first place," Alton said after they'd explained how the mission had gone.

"This could be an issue, after this long it's unlikely that many are left completely hidden and if the White Fang are searching for them it could mean they're preparing for something," Winter said as she typed something into the computer connected to the hologram projector in the primary debriefing room, "Here, this is a map of every logged weapons cache left behind by Mantle," Winter had pulled up a topographical map of Mistral and it's surrounding islands.

Scattered throughout the kingdom were hundreds of dots signifying the caches many were red but almost twice as many were blue.

"The blue ones are ones we know haven't been disturbed whereas the ones marked as red have either been destroyed or removed officially or illegally," Winter said as she pointed to a red one directly south of the Mistral peninsula on the shore of the Scarlet Sea, "This is the one you encountered earlier today."

Team ANCT studied the map and a gasp split the silence as Carla pointed to a point in the middle of the mountains splitting the middle of Mistral.

"It just turned red!"

"This is what I was afraid of, they know where multiple are," Winter sighed and watched in borderline horror as hundreds out of the couple thousand dots changed from blue to red leaving the vast majority of them red as compared to moments ago.

"They're coordinated, they knew to do this at the exact moment to give us no time to react, the question now is what do they plan to do with it?" Nadia said glaring at the hologram.

"We can't do anything about it, they've moved all of their previously known bases here in Mistral, they've hidden their valuable targets in the jungles and swamps, the only thing we can do is issue warnings. Notify anyone and everyone who could be a target for these weapons, tell the leaders of all kingdoms to be on alert. It's only a matter of time," Alton said slamming his hands on the hologram table.

"It's already done, I've issued the orders. This is the first time since the Great War that all kingdoms will be at DEFCON three, save for Vale but Vale has little to worry about anymore," Winter spoke as she left the room, "You're dismissed, I suggest you notify your friends of this eminent threat. The kingdoms could be at all out war with the White Fang at any moment."

"Like we aren't already?" Carla muttered as the captain left the room.

"Not officially," Tiphany snorted.

"Yeah well we don't officially exist either so?" Alton joked hopping up from his seat.

"We're just a bunch of ghosts," Nadia said seemingly pulling a knife from thin air and beginning to twirl it between her fingers.

"Where do you keep those knives? It seems like you have more every time," Alton asked bewildered by her illusions.

"I currently have twenty five on me but I have a crate of eighty aboard the Adder and multiple of my least favorite stashed around the ship in case of an emergency. There's also like eight hidden in Qrow's place."

"What next you're gonna hide one in my arm?" Carla asked flipping open the hatch concealing her grappling hook.

Nadia took hold of Carla's arm and despite the cyborgs struggles managed to get an approximate view of its dimensions, "Well I actually could, some of my smaller throwing knives and kunai, maybe a karambit or two."

"How about no?"

"I was joking, it wouldn't be hidden all that well and there's no way to keep them in there if you open the compartment."

"Uh huh, sure."

* * *

"What are we doing in the industrial district again?" Alton groaned.

"I had an idea to get a small cargo crane to install on the Adder and now I just can't help myself," Nadia explained as she dragged her boyfriend through the busy streets of the warehouse filled industrial district.

"Couldn't this wait?"

"Nope, I didn't want to forget."

"Ugh."

They spent hours looking through catalogs of industrial hardware and mountable modules designed for airships and boats. Eventually they found one that was small enough but strong enough for their purposes.

"How much is it?" Nadia asked the man who had shown them the various show models and how they performed.

The large man tugged on his beard recalling the prices of hundreds of products, "This one is two thousand normally but we're having a going out of business sale so it's a quarter off, fifteen hundred lien."

"That's a pretty fair price for something like this, I'll take it!" Nadia said reaching for her wallet, "Shit where's my wallet?"

"Seems like you've encountered one of the pickpockets around here, one I've seen a couple times real close to here is this one girl with kinda mint hair."

"I'll find her, you just stay here and make sure she doesn't come back," Alton said activating his semblance and disappearing into the crowded streets outside.

"While we wait for your friend there's something else I'm sure you'll find interesting," the salesman's voice suddenly shifted and Nadia turned to be greeted by the barrel of a revolver and the face of Emerald Sustrai.

"Now that's just not fair, illusions? Shapeshifting?"

"You were right the first time, now show me your hands, no tricky business," Nadia complied and felt someone who had gone unheard click a pair of handcuffs onto her.

"It's nice to get some proper use out of these for once," Emeralds voice shifted from one ear to the other before she brought her weapon down and returned it to its holster, looking around Nadia saw no sign of whoever had cuffed her.

"I'll be letting you free after this there's just someone who'd like to have a couple words with you."

"White Fang?"

"No, we're more than that, and if you hadn't noticed I'm not a Faunus."

Nadia was led out a back door of the showroom into a dimly lit warehouse, so dark even she couldn't see yet emerald managed to navigate it easily. They emerged into an alleyway that was completely blocked in by other warehouses leaving the only exit back the way they had come. Waiting in the alley was Cinder with Mercury at her side leaning against the damp brick wall.

"How nice of you to join us little sister," Cinder said with a faux smile.

"Drop the act, why do you want to talk to me."

"This will be your final chance to join us, either that or run. You'll be spared if you escape now, your team is competent and you could easily survive on your own."

"I'm not saying anything until you unlock these cuffs," Nadia said holding her hands out to the fall maiden.

"Fine," Cinder ignited her hand and cut through the cuffs leaving Nadia's hands free.

"That's better," Nadia said flexing her hands and shaking her arms before flicking a knife into her palm and sticking it into Emeralds gut without any warning.

"That's rude," Cinder said with only the faintest glimmer of worry in her eyes.

Nadia backed away leaving the flat bladed knife in the dark girls exposed stomach, "It's in the muscle so it shouldn't cause too much damage I just don't want you to pull anything, should I stab metal legs too? I feel like you wouldn't miss him."

"I'm a bad bitch you can't kill me," Mercury chuckled from the wall where he watched the proceedings.

"I'll leave him for now. Now what's this about leaving?"

"One moment dear sister," Cinder took a second to pull the blade from Emerald and quickly cauterize the wound with a flame before handing the knife to the young woman it had just inhabited.

"Could I keep this?" Emerald asked sarcastically to which Nadia responded with a shrug.

"Mercury help her with that once we finish up here. As I was saying you can join us in serving the dark mistress Salem, you can leave here and never return, or you can continue fighting your losing battle against the Grimm. It's a rather simple choice really," Cinders eye quickly flashed from amber to tar black with glowing red irises before returning to normal.

"Yeah it is, I'll keep fighting. Not my sister, but _you_ ," Nadia leaned in and touched her finger to Cinders forehead.

"You can't fight her," Cinder said.

"Oh we can, we may not win but it's better than giving in."

"If only you'd been taught otherwise sooner," Cinder smirked as her eye changed again.

"If only, I'll be going now, and neither you nor your mistress will stop me, I've got a date tonight after all."

"Good luck with this resistance you plan on attempting, you'll need it," Cinder said turning away as Nadia walked towards the warehouse she'd come through.

"And good luck on stopping us, you'll need that too sis!" Nadia waved as she stepped into the darkness not seeing the single tear creeping from beneath the ceramic mask Cinder wore over her left eye.

As Nadia left the showroom she'd entered through she found Alton waiting for her on the street with a worried look on his face.

"What the hell happened to you?" Alton asked drawing Nadia's attention to the light smattering of blood on her vest.

"Just a light stabbing. Of someone else not me. They lived however."

"You got your wallet back?"

"Yep," Nadia waved it in front of him, "Didn't manage to pay for the crane though he had to close shop for a family emergency, he said we could come back some other time."

"Figures, let's head back to the ship, we could do some sparring once we get back home."

"Sure, I'll take you down easy," Nadia boasted.

"Maybe so, that hoodie may hide an absolutely ripped figure but I've always been stronger than you, and faster too."

"But not smarter," Nadia said tapping the side of her head.

"Whatever you say," Alton said pulling Nadia's good over her head, "I'll race ya!"

"Sure, whatever!" Nadia called after him taking pleasure in seeing the joyful look on his face as he ran ahead.

* * *

"Ah, shit! Watch those fingers Merc!" Emerald hissed through gritted teeth as the amputee stitched up the burnt knife wound.

"Sorry, you've always been better at this," he tried to keep steady as he threaded the last stitch through her skin.

"Yeah because usually it's you getting hurt," Emerald said as she managed to get to her feet from the small cot she'd lain on to let him fix her up.

"I'm dissatisfied she got through your aura so easily, she may be my sister but she's not that powerful," Cinder spoke from across the warehouse they'd claimed as a base.

"I know, I should be training my aura as much as my semblance but I just can't help pushing myself further every time. I managed to trick her into thinking I was right in front of her while I handcuffed her, she probably thought someone else did it."

"Impressive but it will do us no good if you're killed by the first hunter we come across," for once the voices in Cinders head agreed the more maternal of them rewarding her with sweet silence for a moment.

"She's getting deeper, isn't she?" Mercury said as he began his usual nervous maintenance of his legs.

"Yes she is but hopefully we will have no reason for further control any time soon."

"You can't hold her off forever, not even they could fully shield you," Emerald said as she looked to Cinders eye which flickered through a multitude of colors before settling on silver before causing her to flinch in pain and revert back to amber.

"I know, we just need a solution damnit!" Cinder slammed an unconsciously burning fist into a table scorching the metal.

"We'll get there eventually," Emerald said setting a hand on her superiors right shoulder taking care to avoid the left.

"But when is it too late? When is it too late for us?" Cinder looked up to Emerald who saw a single green eye staring back at her briefly.

"It's getting worse isn't it?" Mercury asked joining Emerald by her side.

"Yes, it is, and I'm afraid there may be no way to stop it with _her_ here," Cinder growled as her eyes shifted to silver and then orange for much longer than any of the others.

"Then we'll get rid of her," Emerald said determinedly.

* * *

The clank of metal against stone rang out in the evening light as Carla was thrown against the sparring ring floor by Tiphany for the third time in a row after a string of defeats on the blondes part.

"Fucking hell!" The hyena Faunus spat from beneath her partner who had collapsed on top of her after the exhausting match had ended.

"I told you I'd been working on some throws against bigger opponents," Tiphany grinned from behind her hair which had come down out of its ponytail as her tail flicked excitedly around.

"I'm not that much bigger than you," Carla whined as her girlfriend nuzzled against her while they lay on the cool cobblestones.

"Weight not size. And besides you've certainly gained some mass as far as your biological assets are concerned. And a particular other asset has definitely made some gains as well," Tiphany muttered coyly.

"It's the fluctuations, sometimes the testosterone overpowers the estrogen and I'm more male than female, sometimes it's the other way around, it's a very irregular pattern but it tends to stay even usually. It's gotten more and more stable since puberty stopped fucking around."

"I wouldn't know that much but at least you know enough to explain, most people probably wouldn't care to learn so much."

"Not like I had a choice," Carla ran her mechanical hand through Tiphany's hair.

"You didn't but you got through it in the end, didn't you? My big brave warrior," Tiphany managed to get even closer to the still prone cyborg and began to purr as Carla ran her hand through her hair even more.

"Holy shit you're purring," Carla giggled.

"Tell anyone and you're dead," Tiphany growled.

"Too late, I just sent that to pretty much everyone besides like Oscar," Nadia choked out through laughter from the doorway where she and Alton had been waiting to spar.

"Rest in peace Nadia, you will be missed," Carla sighed as Tiphany jumped to her feet in an attempt to stop Nadia from doing something that was already done.

"Calm down, it's not as bad as Nora and Ren."

"You're right about that, whatever the ring is yours, come on Carla."

"Gimme a second," Carla said still panting from the fight.

"You two be safe!" Alton called.

"Remember to use protection!" Nadia shouted after them.

"Fuck off!" Carla said flipping the other couple off over her shoulder.

Nadia and Alton quickly changed into better sparring outfits, Nadia wearing a sports bra and basketball shorts and Alton wearing a tight tank top and trunks.

"Basic contact sparring?" Alton asked as he bounced on his heels in the glow of lights emenating from the house.

"Sure, best of three?" Nadia said stretching her legs behind her back.

"Sounds good," Alton said cracking his knuckles and settling into his stance, right foot forward, left foot back, arms in defensive positions.

"Let's just hope I don't skin my knuckles on those scales of yours," Nadia chuckled as she settled into her lower offensive stance.

"They've been growing lately," Alton said as they circled each other.

"Really?"

"Yeah, the edges are staring to crack and edges are starting to push out in the skin around the original spots, it's not a lot of growth but it gives me a good extra inch on the edges."

"They look sharp," Nadia said noticing the edges as the continued to circle waiting for an opening.

"They kind of are, not very but enough."

Nadia didn't respond and the next thing Alton saw was a glimpse of the white tips of her hair as she flipped over him grabbing his shoulders on the way down but he countered her grab by going limp in her arms and pulling her down with him. Kicking Nadia off of him they both got back to their feet until Alton rushed forward and kicked Nadia's out from under her leaving her to retaliate with a quick flat palmed strike to his ribs knocking him back and pushing the air from his lungs as she picked herself back up. Dashing towards her opponent Nadia slid under Alton's sloppy haymaker and hit him in the chest with a string of lightning kicks that was broken by him catching the final kick between his forearms and using that as leverage to flip her onto her face the impact cracking the smooth stones beneath her.

"Damn!" The exclamation took Alton's attention from the fight to the sidelines where Yang, Ruby, and Weiss were watching the fight.

"Keep your head in the game babe," Nadia growled as she grabbed him by the shoulders and brought her knee into his chin before throwing him to the ground after the initial blow.

Alton spat blood from where he'd bit his tongue in the impact before he charged forward dodging a high kick on the way in and using his lower angle to slam his fist into her stomach before bringing his other elbow into her chin causing her to stagger backwards before coming back at him with a series of jabs to the left shoulder dislocating it with a resounding crack.

"Let me get this fixed real quick," Alton snarled rubbing the backwards bent shoulder as he grabbed the snake Faunus under the armpits pulling her back into a body slam smashing his shoulder back into place as he hit the ground with her over his shoulder half beneath and half on top of him.

Quickly recovering from the body slam Nadia managed to wrap her legs around Alton's neck from behind. Struggling at first Alton managed to get his arms between her legs and his neck giving him room to leverage himself free before delivering a downward kick to her head. Staggering from the blow Nadia feinted left and turned back to the right with an uppercut. Shaking sweat from his eyes Alton brought a right hook around to bear and followed it with a left jab. Nadia fought back with a pair of sweeping kicks to the legs before dropping her elbow into his shoulder bringing them both to the ground. Neither of them got up and just collapsed on top of each other exhausted.

"I guess we're more tired than we thought," Alton panted patting Nadia's shoulder affectionately.

"You did good, almost had me a couple times."

"Almost?" Alton asked pushing himself off of her abs where he'd landed.

"I mean I didn't go out did I?" Nadia asked raising an eyebrow.

"True, if that's the case you almost got me a couple times too, and damn if my shoulder doesn't hurt from that shit you pulled dislocating it."

"Sorry bout that."

"You two done? Dinners ready," Weiss said pointing inside where Ruby and Yang had already disappeared after the match.

"Yeah we're done," Nadia said pushing Alton off of her chest where he'd lain listening to her racing heart.

"Whatever lovebirds, just clean up first."

* * *

Flames flickered in Tyrian's eyes as he gazed upon the burning wreckage of the tavern he had just had a meal in. It was a shame too the ale was rather good. If only the bartender hadn't insisted he pay the brawl wouldn't have started which led to the fire starting and the distillery exploding. A grunt came from beneath a burning timber as a lone survivor crawled out.

"Ah, good! I can get some directions now!" Tyrian hopped over to the prone form of the patron, bending over Tyrian looked at the man who had severe burns all over his arms, "Now tell me, which way to Mistral?"

The man coughed and looked up at the deranged scorpion Faunus, "I'm not telling you shit, bastard!"

"Maybe this will change your mind," a gleaming obsidian tail curved from beneath Tyrians cloak and moved to position it's barbed stinger beneath the mans chin.

"Fuck off and let me die!"

"Oh you'll die when you tell me what I want to know."

"Keep following the road, there'll be a sign."

"Thank you kind sir," Tyrian grinned as the mechanical tail punched through the burning wood atop the wounded man and through his back skewering him on the prosthetic before he was tossed onto the burning pyre of the tavern.

Tyrian whistled a jaunty tune as he continued down the road in the direction the man had indicated.

 _"Mistress will finally be pleased with me,"_ Tyrian thought to himself imaging those he'd slaughter in the upcoming attack.

Sparks rose into the night looking like stars and soon they'd be joined by millions more.

 **Authors notes:**

It's a short chapter yeah but it's wrapping up some little things before something big next chapter.

So to summarize:

Fluffy CFVY! Yeah they're poly in this, let me have my Starbucks damnit!

They're still kinda minor characters but they'll have some big impacts here and there, gotta let the kids have their time in the spotlight occasionally.

Carla really lent her a hand.

Eh, eh?

Mission time!

Hostage situation

Good thing Tiphany didn't pull a Fuze and kill the hostage, the enemy, and her team.

Ooh secret weapons!

Ooh illegal weapons!

Ooh human right infringing weapons!

Ooh charred husks of weapons!

Rest in pieces anybody who gets between the White Fang and their goals now, they'll get turned inside out with gas form gravity dust. (It's basically like having hundreds of mini black holes inside of you.)

Woo shady crowded part of town that's always fun, it's not like somebody could steal your wallet oh wait.

"I'm a bad bitch you can't kill me!"

Cinder's caught feelings.

Fight, fight, fight! Kiss, kiss, kiss!

I fucking felt every inch of that match

Tyrian's back and he's more psychotic than ever.

Big thanks to all the people following and favoriting this, still haven't gotten any new reviews but it's great when I do get one it really makes me feel good about writing this!

P.S. Go check out my other fic I'm working on, it's called Atlas Stumbled


	17. Guilt

Yang hadn't been able to sleep all night, thoughts occupied by the events that had dominated every waking moment since Beacon. Even now over a year later there were still unanswered questions. Making her way downstairs Yang grabbed some food and her keys before stepping out the front door and walking over to Bumblebee. Checking the bags Yang grabbed her helmet and strapped it on before mounting up and starting up the powerful engine on the bike. Stopping for a moment the blonde realized something was off about the helmet. Taking it off she felt around inside it and found there was a draft. Looking at the outside of the helmet she found that it wasn't hers.

"I forgot about you," Yang whispered to herself brushing a hand over the deadly nightshade flower painted onto the black helmet she hadn't seen in the dark.

Repressing memories Yang quickly shoved the spare helmet back into her bag and pulled her own out before driving off in no particular direction. She made her way through the city, streetlights passing on each side the roads sat mostly empty the occasional car passed by but otherwise Yang had the roads to herself. An hour passed this way with Yang aimlessly driving through the dense urban parts of Mistral before a bright yellow light caught her attention. She stopped at a red light and got a better look at it and saw it was a neon ad for a popular casino in the Cliff District called the Flaming Mango.

"What kinda name is that?" Yang chuckled before spotting something out of place.

A dark figure blotted out a small portion of the large sign on the edge of the building it was built on had caught Yang's eye and needing something to draw her attention she found a safe place to leave Bumblebee while she climbed a fire escape up the building which turned out to be a series of small businesses and lofts. Making sure to stay in the shadows Yang made her way to the maintenance catwalk just below the sign where she saw the figure. Stepping out onto the steel catwalk bathed in the full yellow light of the sign she turned to look where the figure had been to see nothing, letting out a sigh of defeat Yang turned to leave only to be met with the barrel of a very large rifle.

"Who are you?"

"Why does it matter? I just came here to run from my problems because that's what seems to be the fad these days."

The rifle barrel was dropped out of Yang's face revealing the sun kissed face of a young Faunus who had retractable claws that were digging into the wooden stock of her rifle tensely.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

"The Vytal Tournament? I mean I did kinda smash a guys leg."

"Yeah that's you, so what are you doing here in Mistral rather than helping with the rebuilding of Vale?"

"That would require spilling my whole life's story at three in the morning which is not something I'm mentally prepared for right now," Yang said laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

"I'll go first then, I've needed to talk to a stranger about this for a while. The names Sylvia by the way. I joined the White Fang two years ago I became a fanatic dedicated to Sienna Khan and her vision of a new Faunus future then Adam and his little sect of psychos attacked Vale and almost split the White Fang in two before Sienna was killed by a human assassin that brought us back together for the attack on Mistral during which I was captured after killing an Atlesians commander and convinced to give up the Fang. Now I'm with the Pack working with humans to bring down the White Fang to earn equal right for Faunus through respect rather than fear. So here I am spilling my life story to a stranger. Anything you want to say?"

"You made a good choice, one I wish a couple people I know had made, to choose those they know over those they didn't. To turn your back on the past and work for the future."

"Sounds like you've got it tougher than I do," Sylvia pulled out her scroll as it buzzed and checked a message, "It's been a good talk mysterious motorcycle riding, kneecapper, but I've gotta go our leader needs me for a scouting mission with some of the Mistral Defense Force. Something about missing radars?"

"Good luck, I wish I could go on a mission right about now."

"Hey it's a new day, you've got a whole twenty some odd hours ahead to get some excitement. Don't waste it like I used to."

"I wasted plenty of time waiting on this thing," Yang said flashing her prosthetic.

"Good, you know how precious time is."

Sylvia disappeared into the morning on a grappling hook leaving Yang to eat the food she'd taken on the metal ledge in the double yellow light of the rising sun over the Scarlet Sea and the Flaming Mango sign behind her.

* * *

Ruby came to her senses to the sound of crackling fire and distant explosions. Glowing red eyes crept from the darkness around her framed by flames and ruins everywhere. Ruby glanced around at the hordes of Grimm approaching and then down to her feet where her partner lay wounded.

"Weiss, Weiss please wake up!" Ruby said trying to shake the wounded girl awake.

Realizing her attempts were in vain Ruby slung her partner over her shoulder and drew Crescent Rose in sniper mode in preparation for the desperate fight for survival ahead.

"You really think you can win?" A woman's voice spoke from behind Ruby and shifted to right beside her but when the young huntress looked no one was there.

"Who are you?"

"I am that which you have chosen to fight, I am the Grimm, I am Salem. And you. You are a naive child who thinks she can hold the weight of the world on her shoulders, to take up the mantle of your poor dead mother as a silver eyed warrior when in reality you likely won't live to even come close to her level."

"You're lying! I don't want to hold up the whole world, I just want to help people."

"Like her?" An apparition of dark smoke appeared before Ruby and pointed to Weiss's unconscious form draped over Ruby's shoulder.

"Yes."

"You'll do anything to protect her, her and your friends? Your family?"

"Whatever it takes," Ruby said gritting her teeth watching the Grimm come ever closer out of the corner of her eye.

"Then run, flee, take them with you far away, forget about the relics, forget about Ozpin and his doomed plans. There's no way to stop me, I am death incarnate. The only thing you can do is run and eventually you'll collapse at my feet."

"Like hell I will, I'll fight you and I'll win! I've got friends who'll fight with me, and we might not beat you at first but we'll come back stronger. Like a nasty cold we'll come back and every time you beat us away we'll just keep coming back. All your minions, all your pawns, they can't do anything to stop us. Cuz' we're a storm and we'll rain down on you with thunder and lighting like you've never seen."

The apparition solidified enough to have a definite face that grinned coolly flashing gnarled fangs, "Then perish."

The apparition disappeared into the wind as the Grimm lunged, teeth and claws flashing in the firelight. Ruby struggled and fought but eventually fell to the unending horde. Ruby fought tooth and nail on the ground to hold the Grimm back but the creatures of darkness continued on, unflinching, unwavering. Ruby felt the weight from her back get pulled away and turned to see Weiss being dragged into the waves of Grimm.

Scrambling after her partner Ruby cried out in panic clutching at her wounds, "Weiss!"

Suddenly snapping awake from the nightmare Ruby gasped for breath and anxiously pay herself down for injuries and looked at the other bed in the room were Weiss had been woken by Ruby's cry.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Weiss said moving from her bed to beside Ruby.

"Sorry, it was just a bad dream."

"It's okay, I've been having them too."

"Yeah ever since Beacon they've just been getting worse."

"At least we're not like team ANCT, they've got synchronized dreams of when the facility they were growing up in was destroyed and Alton's parents were killed."

"That's weird."

"Especially when they all wake up at once and start talking about it."

"That's weirder."

"What happened in your dream?"

"There were a lot of Grimm, more than I've ever seen at once, even at Beacon."

"I was there wasn't I?"

"Yeah, you were hurt. I was trying to get you away from the Grimm but there were too many, I got overwhelmed and then they pulled you away."

"And that's when you woke up?"

"Yeah," Ruby said not mentioning her subconscious conversation with Salem.

"Maybe some breakfast will help," Weiss suggested standing from where she'd been kneeling beside Ruby.

"Whatever's cooking smells good," Ruby noted the savoury smell wafting from downstairs.

The two huntresses made their way downstairs for breakfast and were greeted by shouting coming from the kitchen.

"Put some damn clothes on guys! This is the third time this week for fucks sake," Jaune berated a bashful Nora and Ren who were barely covered, Nora by a blanket she'd brought from her bed and Ren by the apron he'd been making pancakes in.

"Fucking on the counter again?" Weiss asked avoiding eye contact with the embarrassed couple.

"Yup. Just go get dressed I'll see if I can wake Tiphany so she can finish breakfast before anyone else wakes up," Jaune said making for the staircase.

"Already on it," Tiphany's voice came from behind them by the oven.

Turning to see that she'd somehow gotten downstairs without them noticing and was already flipping pancakes and frying bacon Jaune gave a sigh of relief, "Good I don't need to see whatever you call that weird cuddling position with you and Carla again."

"Why be little spoon or big spoon when you're flexible enough to be both?" Tiphany asked hypothetically as she threw blueberries and chocolate chips into a fresh batch of pancake batter.

"You guys are so strange," Jaune said with a look of bewilderment.

"We're all emotionally unstable, hormonal, teenagers, who went through traumatic military training at a young age, what did you expect? Of course we're touch starved eccentric weirdos."

"Ya know what? I can't argue with that," Jaune said grabbing an apple from a bowl of fruit on the counter and walking away.

"What's cooking good looking?" Carla asked Tiphany, her approach given away by the clack of her mechanical feet on hard floor tiles.

"Just finishing what Ren started before they got distracted," Tiphany said giggling as Carla nuzzled into her girlfriends neck, "Stop I've got to make breakfast."

"Fine, but only because I'm hungry."

"Ugh, smells like teen spirit in here. I knew chaperoning you kids was a mistake," Qrow grumbled as he entered the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee before dumping the contents of his flask into it.

"Like you're any different with my sister," Weiss muttered under her breath.

"I heard that Ice Queen and im telling you again that our relationship is strictly professional."

"Tell that to the fact that you literally spent the night on board the Tödlich Flüstern, were seen exiting the captains quarters to have breakfast with a pair of fuzzy handcuffs still on one wrist, and that they were engraved with the captains initials I feel like that's enough evidence to conclude that you and Captain Winter are more than colleagues or rivals," Alton said from the couch where he'd fallen asleep the previous night.

"You get kicked out of the bed by Nadia?" Carla looked at her leader oddly.

"Hmm?" Nadia's head appeared over the back of the couch.

"Forget I asked," Carla said shaking her head.

"So who's not awake?" Ruby asked from a barstool where she was spinning to appease her boredom.

"Head count," Carla said as she mentally ran through everyone who'd been accounted for that morning, "Yang, she's the only one I haven't seen today. Anybody know where she is?"

"I saw her sometime a couple hours ago, said she was going for a ride to clear her head," Qrow said as he downed the scalding alcoholic black coffee he drank every morning.

"She'll need a bulldozer to clear that much," Carla said from one of the many chairs and couches in the adjacent living room.

"Give her time, you kids have got a lot of mental baggage for the shit you go through," Qrow said downing another cheap liquor laced mug of coffee, "Especially her."

"Especially you, seeing as you never stop drinking," Tiphany said as she flipped the final four pancakes onto the growing stack of dozens.

Qrow slammed his empty mug onto the counter harder than he had intended snapping the handle off in the process, "You leave my habits out of this and leave out yours," Qrow snapped.

"Did I hit a nerve? You always seem to know more than you're letting on and you're the only person here who really knows the extent of what's going on seeing as your boss died and is now inhabiting the body of a fourteen year old who he hasn't told shit either! So the fact that you're a reliant alcoholic and constantly seem to be drinking has me a little worried at the very least," Tiphany replied in a similar tone.

"You really want to know why I drink?" Qrow groaned as he sucked air through his teeth, "Do you?"

"Enlighten me," Tiphany hissed throwing off the apron she'd been wearing.

"I drink because I've been stuck at the center of this shitshow of a conspiracy theorists wet dream since day one in this century at the very least. I got wrapped into it at eighteen when I was already dealing with the typical mental issues and drama and you better believe the fact that my semblance brings harm to everyone around me and myself certainly helped matters. I get called into the headmasters office along with my bitch of a sister who definitely got off better with teleportation expecting to be expelled after being somehow found out as bandits, instead we're offered a job as spies for an interkingdom order of elite hunters dedicated to protecting mystical women of power from being murdered in cold blood. We have the choice to join and get benefits or don't and be under constant scrutiny because we know the big secret now, of course we both say yes and get to turn into birds, yeah cool, then comes another three years of emotional trauma as I go through the sickest shit to find information for my headmaster who is also my boss and also all the issues that happen to my teammates and friends. First I have a falling out with one of my teammates because he's datin my sister, we make up after a year and then she's pregnant so we have to tolerate each other then the pregnancy is botched because I'm there of course and it lasts almost an entire day so I leave and it goes fine after that. Cut to about two years later everything's fine because I've been making myself scarce with missions from on high, I come back to see how things are going and my sister's come back from a mission in a total slump my drinkings started out by now but it's not bad just yet I step inside and she just slams me against the wall and starts cursing me out while her husband and two year old daughter are right there, turns out she's onto the fact that everything up to this point is my fault, something about a lost quarry and ruining everything I don't remember everything because I was really drunk-"

"Of course."

"Shut up. She tried to storm past me but Tai stopped her and asked her to explain what was going on but she just kept moving and disappeared. Probably talked to Tai a bit after that but he gave up and just focused on raising his daughter with our other teammate who inevitably he got together with and ended up with Ruby three years later. I'm making myself very scarce at this point avoiding any topics relating to Oz and Raven who's gone completely off the grid since I found her scroll shattered where I tracked it to a year before. Then Summer gets wrapped into a couple missions with me not knowing the actual purpose for them thinking they're something easy to get her back into it now that she doesn't need to be a constant mom. It goes wrong and she starts taking them without me telling me to focus on Raven and she can focus on the 'home front'. She takes a mission in northern Vacuo by herself, Raven calls me on a untraceable number to go after her and when I get there there's nothing left but a crater of melted sand covered in chunks of burnt metal. In the center of the crater was a torn white cloak pinned to the ground by a massive dust stake. Raven had already been there by the looks of a boot print in the glass but she didn't answer any of my calls after that and the next time that I talked to her was around the time her own daughter started combat school ten years later and she didn't say a damn word about it. She complemented me on how we'd been handling her daughter. Didn't mention Summer, didn't mention Ruby, and certainly didn't say a goddamn word to Ozpin despite the fact he was standing right there. From then nothing much happened until Ruby and Yang started at Beacon. Then my job got more interesting, I got sent out more often on increasingly more difficult missions with increasingly more Grimm activity. I got wrapped into that mess with Dr. Merlot then disappeared for a month without anyone knowing I'd come back. And then I get back to the Vytal festival being sabotaged and half of Vale falling to the Grimm. And that's not even counting what's happened in the past year since then! So does any of that sound like a good reason to drink? I thought so," Qrow snarled turning away from Tiphany who stood shocked at the full verbal pounding she'd just received.

"Holy shit, he just dropped an emotional MOAB on you," Carla gasped.

Mouths still agape everybody turned towards the front door as it clicked open to reveal Yang in the doorway drenched in sweat with her coat hanging around her waist and her helmet in her hands.

"What's everybody looking at?"

"Hold on I recorded it, your uncle just dropped he biggest emotional bomb on Tiphany when she asked why he drinks so much," Carla said pulling a small wire from a no longer functional tear duct and plugged it into her scroll something that still managed to creep out some members of their group despite her having a backup mechanical one.

Having watched the replayed footage Yang stood with a face of shock matching theirs moments before.

"Oh gods, it's not entirely his fault but he definitely had a lot to do with the current state of things with our family."

"And I thought mine was bad," Weiss said.

"No, you're rich and your parents don't care plus there was that time your dad borderline kidnapped and locked you at home despite being a legal adult, you definitely have it worse," Nadia said from where she still lay on top of Alton.

"At least he wasn't lying about something, they never did find moms body. He did originally say that it was supposed to be a search and destroy mission gone wrong though. My mom wasn't overwhelmed by way too many Grimm, she was a silver eyed warrior, she went down fighting something or someone much more powerful."

"What's all the commotion down here? I was hoping I'd at least wake up in time for lunch but I guess I woke up earlier than expected? My whole internal clock is thrown off without farmwork," Oscar said having finally woken up.

"Damnit, I missed Farm Boy!" Carla cursed.

"What?"

"She did a head count earlier and counted everyone but you," Alton explained.

"Oh, but seriously what's going on down here and why is it almost noon and breakfast is sitting on the counter getting cold?" Oscar asked stepping into the kitchen.

"Our uncle just spilled all his emotional baggage since he started going to Beacon leading to what causes his terrible case of alcoholism including but not limited to why Raven is such a bad mom, why my mom died, and why Ozpin is probably the base source of all of our family troubles since before Yang was conceived," Ruby gushed somehow managing to keep her own emotions in check despite the dawning realization of a multitude of things.

"Maybe I should sit this one out then," Oscar said slowly stepping away.

"Nope, just hand the controls to Ozpin, we won't hurt you but we definitely need to talk to him," Yang said slumping onto a bar stool.

"Yes Miss Xiao Long?" Oscars voice shifted.

"Good you didn't pussy out, would you mind explaining that. And don't play dumb you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I have a simple one sentence explanation for this."

"And that is?" Yang said through gritted teeth as she cracked her knuckles absentmindedly.

"I didn't count on Qrows semblance when formulating my plans."

"Then why didn't you change them?"

"It was too late when I found out, by then your mother was already pregnant and too many pieces were in motion that were out of my control."

"The all-powerful Oz lain low by a little bad luck charm, how did it feel?"

"Something I'd experienced many times in my thousand year battle with Salem. I've been humbled hundred of times throughout the centuries but this time I couldn't afford to bide any more time for it to smooth over, the time for action is now as Salem only gets stronger by the day, the loss of your mother was a regrettable one Miss Rose as she was very valuable and I had grown attached during the time she studied at Beacon but sacrifices must be made to achieve a greater goal."

"Sacrifices? You think she was just another sacrifice? How many sacrifices has it been now? How many? Do you know their names? Every single one of them? How many people have died in this crusade of yours unwillingly or not?" Ruby said choking back tears.

"Every last one. I've scoured reports of death counts, identified bodies, and first hand reports. I've done more than my fair share of digging through ancient burial mounds to find the notched and gnawed bones of fallen allies. I know each and every name of every single man, woman, and child, human or Faunus, who has lain down their lives knowingly or not to set back Salem even a single moment, for every life lived pushes her goals back further. Over eight billion. Eight billion directly involved deaths since our linked yet warring consciousnesses emerged from the primordial abyss millions of years even after Grimm and Mankind were formed. And every day I'm informed of another. The list grows longer and I hope to never see any of yours on it before my mind finally goes dark for the last time."

"What's the point? Why are **you** here Ozpin? I'm not asking some existential bullshit, I want to know your specific purpose on this godforsaken mess we call Remnant," Carla asked.

"I am here to fight Salem until there is nothing left to fight or until I am defeated. That is all I have ever known."

"Then why is Salem here?"

"To destroy everything that isn't her or under her control," Ozpin said through Oscar allowing an uncanny grin to creep across the boys face.

"Alright fuck off then you eldritch bastard, do whatever you do when you aren't in control of a little boy," Carla snorted her serious tone disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

"I'm not that little, also don't you think that was a little harsh?"

"You're fourteen. You're younger than Ruby was when she started Beacon. And no it wasn't harsh, the bastards done a lot of things that ruined people's lives, whether they volunteered or not. He may be on the right side of things but I definitely don't trust him with anything more than I already have," Carla said uncaringly to Oscar.

"Alton your scroll is ringing," Nadia interrupted.

"Oh shit," Alton said fumbling to reach it underneath his girlfriend, "Hello?" He answered not checking the number.

"Good morning Alton, your team should eat breakfast quickly, you have an urgent mission to check one of Mistrals defense stations after we lost contact with a regular maintenance team four hours ago."

"Good morning Captain, and how did you know we were about to eat?" Alton asked confused.

"You of all people should know how many valuable assets are staying in that building, I couldn't leave you without being under watch. I posted an extended surveillance squad in the building across the street and there's a window that gives them a good view into the kitchen, just be glad the morning shift was just switching over when your friends decided to do that."

"Oh, that. We'll be done soon, send Nadia the coordinates."

"It's already done. Captain Schnee signing off."

"Understood."

"We've got a mission guys, let's eat quickly and load up. Anybody want to come along?" Alton directed his question at the three other huntresses outside his team.

"Nah, me and Weiss are going to see if we can find team SSSN around Haven, there's some sort of meeting this afternoon to address some concerns about dealing with any students who came from Beacon," Ruby answered excitedly.

"Yang?" Alton offered.

"I'll probably just drive around town, see if I can get into some kind of trouble, maybe hang out with CFVY. Say hi to Sage for me you two and remind him he still owes me twenty lien after our benching competition."

"You've got it," Ruby said already scarfing down her breakfast with her semblance.

"Ruby! Slow down, you'll choke," Weiss warned her partner as she ate her own pancake.

"I're beb frime," Ruby said through a mouthful of syrupy goodness.

"And don't talk with your mouth full."

"That's what she said!" Tiphany joked as she drowned her pancakes in syrup.

"That is what I said," Carla said quietly causing Alton to spit his food back into his plate from laughing so hard.

"Did she actually?" Nadia asked Tiphany for confirmation.

"She might have," Tiphany said somewhat flustered.

"Gross, not at the table guys," Weiss said in disgust as Yang just laughed.

Everyone managed to finish eating without any more outbursts and team ANCT grabbed their gear and made their way to the Adder to start their investigation.

* * *

"Weapons check?" Alton asked en route to their objective with the ship on autopilot.

After everybody confirmed their weapons were clear for operation Nadia prepared to land the craft beside the large hexagonal concrete towers that housed the internals of the massive automated cannon mounted on top of it.

"Something's up," Carla said looking around as they stepped out of the retrofitted cargo ship, "There's no sign of the maintenance crew. No spent casings, no blood, no evidence of Grimm."

"Come take a look at this guys!" Nadia called from near the front of the Adder by a rocky ledge leading down the mountain situated to the north of Mistral just inland from the shore of the Scarlet Sea.

"Well there's the maintenance team," Alton said cringing at the sight of the teams broken bodies on the rocks below stripped of all gear save for their uniforms.

"Let's take a look inside the tower for good measure, make sure nothing happened that could screw up Mistrals defenses," Tiphany suggested making her way to the reinforced metal door.

"Carla, breaching procedure. No frag rounds," Alton reminded his teammate.

"I'm not a dimwit Chief, I loaded slugs today."

"Just making sure, don't want to destroy anything important too permanently."

The team took positions around the door with Carla directly in front of it. Backing up to break the door in Carla launched herself forward with her powerful legs before bringing them around forward to take the brunt of the impact. The crunch of yielding steel alerted the occupying White Fang that they were under attack but not before the one who'd been guarding the door was flattened against the opposite wall by almost four hundred pounds of combined weight of military grade steel along with a wiry Faunus cyborg. Bringing their guns to bear the White Fang thugs had little time to react to realize there were enemies outside as well before they found out the hard way. One lost his head to a magnetic flail swing from Tiphany, another found half of Alton's glaive sticking out of his gut, and the third acquainted his collarbone and neck with Nadia's kanabo. Two White Fang remained and still focused on Carla unloaded their collective ammo into the cyborgs aura merely causing her to take a step back into the mass of gore under the crumpled door.

"Weren't there three more of you?" Carla said winking at her team who stood behind the two Faunus who were desperately reloading.

"Which would you rather surrender, your lives or your freedom?" Alton said putting the blades of his katars to their necks.

"Glory to the White Fang!" One screamed grabbing Alton's hand and pulling the blade across his throat splashing blood all over his comrades mask and uniform.

"Will you answer the same?" Alton said pushing Abyssus Ignis against the grunts throat drawing a bead of blood.

"Glory to the White Fang," he gritted his teeth and attempted to push his throat against the razor sharp blade but couldn't bring himself to do it before collapsing.

"You don't have the guts. Does this look like glory to you?" Alton roared putting is foot on the collapsed mans back and pushing him to the floor where a pool of his allies blood was pooling his lifeless eyes staring out at him from behind his mask.

"What do you want from me you monsters?" He groaned feeling the blood pool around him, clinging to his skin.

"Ooh, monsters? That's a new one. We've heard freaks, weirdos, psychos, bastards, bitches, and last but not least, soldiers, but we've never had monsters. What do you think makes us monsters, hmm? Is it the remorseless killing? Our nigh invulnerability? Our unnatural reflexes? Our sheer skill?" Carla hissed putting her face close to his.

Struggling to get up he turned his head away from her and saw her bloodstained talon-like feet and the remains of the door guard smashed beneath the door. He winced in horror imagining what had happened to his other allies.

"Answer the damn question!" Carla snarled grabbing his chin and violently turning him to face her with her mechanical hand.

"You kill so easily, you're like animals, no better than the Grimm!" He screamed.

"You're exactly fucking right. We're like animals. You've had that same phrase used against you, haven't you? You call us Grimm and animals, you're no better than the ones who called you that. You hate humans the same way they hate you. Not because they hated you first and you want equality, that's an excuse. You hate them because they're not like you. Us? We're not like anyone, and that's why so many people hate us," Carla snarled before slamming his skull into the ground rendering him unconscious and with a concussion at the very least.

"What do we do with him now? Interrogation?" Tiphany asked taking a look at some of the computers lining one of the walls connected to the cannon on the roof.

"We'll leave that to the experts back on the Tödlich Flüstern, it won't be hard after what Carla just did. Was that really necessary?"

"Not really but I needed to get that outta my system."

"Well I'm glad it's gone, that was freaky as hell."

"I know. I'll get rid of these bodies so you guys can see what they were doing in here."

"Leave em' they're not in the way, a cleanup team will deal with them when they come to retrieve the maintenance crew," Tiphany said already focused on her task of scanning the cannons systems.

After a few minutes of worried scowling and sighs Tiphany snapped out of her trance.

"They've taken over the entire system. They've got the control substation and every single one of these defense posts within range of Mistral proper, I can't regain control but we can put this one out of commission until we can. Hold on they've changed something," Tiphany said noticing the cannons mechanism moving, "They've put it on a timer. They're going to fire on Mistral," Tiphany gasped after scanning the code again.

"Carla, plant some explosives on that gun, make sure it can't fire. Nadia, contact Winter and inform her of the situation. Tiphany keep trying to stall them however you can," Alton ordered.

The team rushed into action Tiphany finishing quickest after she was locked out of the system. Carla giddily pulled the trigger on the explosives she'd placed around the turret that was now facing the city blasting it to pieces. Nadia called Alton into the Adder to speak with Winter. After Alton relayed what had happened she ordered them back to the ship for further orders. They got back and were told to go home but be ready for anything as she put the entire ship on alert and reported the situation to what little was left of Mistrals already small military since the various operations they'd been on in the past months. A warning was issued to civilians warning them to stay inside and towards the center of the city that night. Military units were mobilized to liberate as many of the more critical defense posts as possible and emergency responders were readied in case of any events.

"Hey how'd your mission go?" Jaune asked sitting on the couch watching TV when they got home.

"How long have you been watching that?" Alton asked.

"Like, a minute, I just sat down," Jaune answered confused by Alton's cryptic answer.

"You'll see exactly how our mission went in a second."

Jaune turned back to the TV to see an emergency news report interrupting the regular program.

"For viewers just tuning in this is an emergency warning directly from the Mistrali defense force urging everyone to stay inside and as far from the edges of the city as possible as there have been reports of White Fang activity and occupation of numerous defense posts outside of the city. Authorities and hunters have been dispatched and will be patrolling the city throughout the night, stay safe this evening and report and suspicious behavior of anyone, Faunus or not."

The emergency broadcast cut out and Jaune turned back to team ANCT who were still significantly bloodstained.

"I'm gonna guess that none of that's your blood?" Jaune said his eyes locked on Carla's red stained chrome limbs.

"Well maybe a little bit because I bit my tongue while I was yelling at this White Fang guy but most of what's on my feet isn't even blood. There's a little bit of guts between my toes, probably some ribcage on my soles, there's a lot of pulped stuff, I need to shower."

"That's disgusting," Jaune wretched imagining what she'd done to cause that.

"She smashed somebody with a door," Tiphany said nonchalantly wiping blood from the head of Fulgur Mortem.

"I'll smash you against a door," Carla said waggling her eyebrows.

"You are unbearably hot when covered in blood, why don't I help you wash that off?" Tiphany said leading her partner upstairs to their room.

"That was smooth, Alton why can't you be that smooth?" Nadia said watching them.

"I'm an idiot and don't understand flirting. You have to tell me what you want," Alton shrugged pulling his armor off piece by piece sighing in relief as the weight disappeared.

"I remember the week that I wasn't single. It was great."

"Should we leave?" Alton asked awkwardly realizing the sore subject for Jaune who was still there.

"No it's fine, I'm used to everyone around me being in a relationship of some kind and being the only one who isn't."

"From what I heard Pyrrha was after you from the very beginning," Nadia said helping Alton out of his armor.

"I am not a smart man," Jaune said with a blank look in his eyes.

"Yeah you are, you're just not good at interpreting emotional and social cues."

"That too, I did chase after Weiss for a while which honestly was probably my worst decision ever."

"Really? Weiss? Our Weiss? A very obvious lesbian?"

"It wasn't obvious then with how she fawned over Neptune. Then again everyone fawned over Neptune, even a couple dudes."

"Yeah Neps not straight either," Alton said dragging his armor up the stairs.

"I'm honestly not even surprised anymore."

"Is anyone here actually straight besides you?" Nadia asked.

"Uh, no? I'm not sure about Ren but Nora doesn't give a fuck that's for sure. I'm pretty sure Ren doesn't care either, I would date a guy maybe. We're iffy about Qrow but according to the legend of Tai Yang Xiao Long he fucked his entire team and that includes Qrow so probably not straight either."

"Oscar?"

"He's fourteen he doesn't even know yet."

"Makes sense."

"Ruby?"

"I don't even know about Ruby, she's literally never shown any attraction to anyone except maybe a celebrity crush on Pyrrha and everyone had that except me."

"She's still young too."

"Why are we even talking about this? Isn't there like an imminent attack on the city?"

"Probably, I just don't care anymore. It's always a life or death situation around here. We went out for two hours to get a damn crane for the Adder and my wallet gets stolen by Emerald so my fucking sister can hold me hostage and threaten me into safety."

"When did this happen?" Jaune said concerned.

"A couple days ago."

"Ok, and you didn't tell anyone, why?"

"She's my sister and she didn't actually threaten my life directly or anyone else. Plus I stabbed Emerald and let her keep the knife."

"Wait who's your sister again?"

"Cinder."

"Yeah I forgot about that, that's gonna be an awkward fight someday, seeing as she murdered my girlfriend in cold blood. And Ozpin too actually."

"And our parents, and Alton's parents."

"She's killed a lot of people."

"Yeah, but so have I, I just don't absorb their souls when I do it."

"What was that?"

"She may or may not absorb people's souls when she kills them until they lose all sense of being and she absorbs their aura and semblance fully. She's got at least twenty semblance's already fully under her control."

"Is one polarity?"

"Um, I don't think I should answer that question," Nadia said looking away out the window.

"Nadia, if you know something tell me, please."

"Not the time Jaune."

"How's the perfect time, you're already on the subject."

"Jaune take a look out that window and tell me if fifty square blocks of urban residential area in flames is a good time for this," Nadia said staring as another volley of shells from the defense posts flew through the pitch dark night before thundering into the ground a few blocks closer than the last.

"What the hell was that?" Yang shouts having been shaken awake by the barrage of explosive artillery.

"Mistral is under attack! No time for sleep now we've got ass kicking to do!" Carla said already sliding down the banister of the staircase as she pulled a shirt on over her dripping wet hair and grabbed her leather jacket from a hook by the door and Libertas Lupus from the weapon rack.

Alton appeared at the bottom of the stair already back into his armor and on a call with Winter.

"You and your team get to the center of the city, the White Fang have dropped Grimm within the city and thousands more are already pouring in with the defenses down. I've called in for reinforcements from Atlas but it will take hours to get here and it will take less time to raze this city without serious resistance. Send everyone else to Haven, they may be experienced but they can't handle this."

"Understood ma'am, team ANCT out. Alright everybody but us needs to get to Haven to help with evacuation and survivor protection, everyone will be gathering there for safety. We'll stick together until we reach the halfway point at which we'll split up."

"My sister is on that ship and I'm not leaving her there alone."

"And I'm not letting her die on my watch, we've got unfinished business," Qrow growled sheathing Harbinger.

"And if Weiss is going I'm going, we're partners after all!" Ruby said preparing Crescent Rose.

"Sis, I'm going to Haven, I'm gonna trust you to get back alright," Yang said bending down to eye level with her sister.

"Yang, I've got this, I'm probably better than you are by now, plus I've got the super soldiers with me," Ruby pointed a thumb at team ANCT.

"We're not infallible but we'll make sure she gets back alive. Maybe very tired and battered, but nothing worse than she's been through before," Tiphany said sliding a fresh battery into Fulgur Mortem with a hum.

"It's time to smash!" Nora said drawing Magnhild and charging out the front door.

"I guess we're going now," Alton said following the boisterous ginger.

"Leroooyyy Jonquilllll!" Carla cried charging into the street cleavers drawn at the ready.

The ragtag group of young hunters made their way only ankle deep into what would soon be the worst night of their lives to that point not knowing what to expect but drawing on their experiences during the Fall of Beacon managed to survive the mere beginning.

* * *

"Oh baby sister, you didn't listen to me. I'll see you soon," Cinder murmured to herself under the howling wind outside of the bullhead hundreds of feet above the city in more chaos than it had ever seen before.

 **Authors notes:**

I've written this over the course of almost three months so I can barely remember enough to give a good recap or make any jokes but I have one:

Yes that was a Leroy Jenkins reference, I have the Wikipedia color list open at all times for a reason. (Jonquil is a weird shade of yellowish orange like a squash)

Time to write another chapter for that other fic before writing another for this one.

Follows, favorites, and reviews are always great if you want to show me you liked it!


	18. The Battle of Mistral

Brass clattered against worn cobblestones beneath the premade defenses that had lain in wait since the attack on Vale. Haven remained the only truly safe place in Mistral. Not three hours had passed since the rain of fire fell coating the outer five blocks of the city in destruction and death and leaving a well trodden path inland for the Grimm to follow. All manner of land born Grimm crosses the partial land bridge to the east of the city, leaping cliffs where homes and businesses had already been evacuated and crossing drawbridges that allowed ferries to go around at side of the city. Havens students and staff had rallied to the walls of the campus to keep the sprawling complex safe as law enforcement and military led civilians to the rehabilitation center that had been established there, the vast supply of medical resources at the school's disposal was already being pushed to the limit with vast injuries and casualties pouring in constantly, anybody with any manner of medical experience was being put to work from vets to plastic surgeons. Even students of the smaller combat schools were helping push back the creatures of darkness by running ammo between defense posts and reloading magazines, even taking over operation of mounted guns when needed. Team SSSN was in the field escorting APCs full of evacuees through the chaotic streets of the Astral district, airborne Grimm weaving between the towering skyscrapers constantly. The screeches of a giant nevermore called the teams eyes upward.

"Sun, I need a boost!" Neptune called to his partner.

"Got it!"

Sun used his semblance to launch Neptune into the air where he met the nevermore halfway with his glaive effectively disconnecting its body from its brain by severing it's spinal column with a quick slash.

"Sage, we've got more beowolves incoming!" Scarlet called to his partner.

"Got it!"

The two slowed down and turned to face the Grimm before Sun stopped them.

"Keep up, we'll pick em off from here. We gotta stick together."

The two nodded and got back into their positions in the convoy of armored vehicles as their mounted turrets opened up into the horde with the line of fire clear.

"Good thing we haven't run into any White Fang yet, eh Nep?" Sun shouted over the roar of machine guns.

"Yeah, though I'm sure they'd be easier to deal with than this many Grimm."

"At least I got here in time before this happened."

"You ditched us in Vale, you better not leave after this big fight."

"Nah I'm here for good, just had some loose ends to tie up."

"Blake?"

"Didn't work out, she's got other stuff to deal with without me bothering her, plus I've got competition."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, girl named Ilia. I don't think anything will come of it either, we're both a bit put off to be honest."

"Huh, good. You get distracted too easily."

"Yep. Hey we're almost home. Alright, on to the next group!"

The four young hunters moved on to the next empty set of APCs waiting for an escort. They were greeted by a few familiar faces.

"Team SSSN? What are you guys doing here?" Nora cried out from atop one of the armored half tracks.

"We live here! But I could ask you two the same thing," Neptune called back.

Ren who was sitting beside his partner smiled sadly, "There wasn't anywhere else to go after Vale and we needed to continue our training so we headed here with Ruby."

"And where is the squirt?"

"Out with Weiss of course, they went with team ANCT who I'm sure you already know about."

"Yeah Weiss was with them when I saw her before the riots."

"And Yang's here too, she's out scouting the northern perimeter of Haven."

"The gangs all here then. Blake is here too, working with the Pack out picking up people stuck on rooftops now that they've got a couple airships up," Sun jumped in.

"We'll have to catch up with her once this is over with then."

"But now it's time to smash! Let's get on with it!" Nora shouted impatiently.

"Alright. Are you coming with us? Jaune's scouting ahead and clearing the vicinity before we head out."

"Yeah, why not?" Scarlet shrugged as they mounted another of the vehicles for their mission ahead.

"Damnit we've just walked right into the thick of them haven't we?" Alton said gunning down a trio of ursa that had charged out of the courtyard of an apartment complex as they made their way down a street littered with evaporating corpses of the slain beasts.

"Sure looks that way," Nadia said firing a cluster of rockets into the oncoming packs.

"Come get some you ugly bastards!" Carla jeered charging into the swarm bouncing from rooftop to rooftop launching herself off balconies and gutters getting the drop on Grimm focused on the larger group in front of them.

"What she said!" Ruby cried tearing through throes of beowolves in a single strike.

"Heads up!" Weiss cried creating a summoning glyph above the thick group of Grimm and summing the king taijitu they'd fought in the assault on the White Fang fortress.

The massive two headed snake ripped an Ursa Major in half and crushed dozens of Grimm beneath its massive coils. The Grimm dealt with it curled up contentedly, it's duty done.

"Nice," Nadia said patting the cold ethereal creatures snout as it faded away leaving only a haze of frost behind.

"Let's keep moving!" Alton called jogging ahead towards the center of the city where the Tödlich Flüstern sat amongst the skyscrapers keeping the majority of the skies clear to allow for evac. Hours passed of running and gunning as more and more Grimm arrived, it seemed as if the White Fang were letting the monsters do their job.

"Guys, there's a leviathan coming," Nadia said grimly looking towards the cliff face that dominated the eastern horizon.

Massive gusts of air swept down the sheer rock picking up dust and whipping it into a flurry. Wingbeats could be heard getting steadily closer and with an ear splitting screech the leviathans arrival was announced as it crested the cliff edge putting the massive beast into perspective. Resembling a giant nevermore almost ten times the usual size it swept down towards the city setting its sights on the Tödlich Flüstern as a potential rival. The warship turned and put the Grimm in the sights of its awesome firepower but for all its main batteries the creature was hardly effected. A flickering green light appeared on the top deck and grew into a near blinding speck in the distance before erupting into a beam of pure energy tearing the right wing off of the leviathan as it neared the ship but not soon enough for as it fell it lashed out in pain and struck its claws through the hull and dragged it down with it into a skyscraper pulling it through multiple blocks of buildings and nigh ripping the ship in half with a sound of crushed concrete and torn metal heard miles away.

"That's a very immediate issue we should probably deal with rather than hunting down the White Fang," Alton suggested.

"Yes, yes it is. Weiss call your sister, we need to see how bad the damage is," Ruby said as they changed course to navigate the streets towards the crash site.

"I'm already on it."

Weiss's scroll ring for a few seconds before Winter answered.

"Thank the Gods you're alright."

"No injuries on the bridge yet luckily enough but the ships been torn in half, we're grounded and in critical condition, and there've been massive casualties all round. It's a good thing we were running a skeleton crew with everybody else assisting on the ground. We're in the midst of evacuating with what equipment we can but this half of the ship is cut off and will need evac some other way, see if you can get aboard," Winter said almost out of breath.

"Don't die, we have to live longer than father, remember?"

"I do, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere unless it's aboard this ship back in the air or on a new one."

"We'll see about that, this is the second one you've lost so far."

"And there's a new batch almost out of the docks we have no shortage of ships, merely men to crew them."

"Especially at this rate. We'll be there soon."

"Where the hell is Qrow?" Alton asked as Weiss hung up.

"I've been keeping up kid, dealing with everything you've missed. Massive group of White Fang up ahead a few blocks. They've got military hardware, a couple old landships and some crazy armor."

"Landships? Like those old war tanks with like five turrets?"

"Exactly. We may want to steer clear of these guys."

"I'm sure we could take em," Carla said confidently.

"Mistrali front Mantle landships were equipped with two turrets with dual twenty millimeter autocannons a turret with a quad barrel anti air gun and a pair of turrets with hundred and fifty millimeter cannons along with an average of two hundred millimeters of sloped armor on all sides, they'd contest even with a Paladin. And those armored guys are probably wearing exosuits, the earliest form of mechanized aura enhancement," Nadia explained trying to dissuade her brash teammate.

"Yeah nevermind, good point there Nadia."

"Then we'll go around, I've got a path planned through some alleys," Qrow said stalking off down a darkened side road.

It took nearly an hour for the seven of them to make the three miles at a quick pace through the cramped passages. One moment it seemed normal and the next they'd turned a corner into hell on earth. The scene was worse than much of what happened in Vale. A ravine was gouged through the earth by the falling of a trio of skyscrapers and the impact of both the massive Grimm and the airship. Grimm swarmed the area, picking at corpses and digging through rubble their snouts twitching searching for anybody who may have survived the carnage. The Tödlich Flüstern lay at an odd angle it's two pieces close but still very much torn apart. The port thruster had exploded blasting a crater beneath the back half of the ship leaving it perched somewhat upright only by the bridge leaning against a building. The front half of the ship lay half buried in its own wreckage as the bow had impacted first dampening the impact but being completely destroyed in the process as the ship careened to the side the leviathan had latched onto.

"Damn, that thing really made a mess of our place didn't it?" Tiphany said searching the area through her scope.

"Time to get aboard before the Grimm spot us, there's got to be a couple thousand just in this area," Nadia said not bothering to count how many she could reach with her semblance.

"Try to keep em off us if you can," Alton asked as the began to pick their way down into the strewn mass of debris.

"I'll get up to the bridge and try to see what I can do from inside, you kids stay safe," Qrow said transforming and flying away.

The six young hunters searched for a path through the crumbled blocks of concrete and shredded steel, avoiding Grimm where possible and dealing with them quietly to avoid detection. Carla led the way as they made their way aboard through a large chunk of hull that was ripped away on impact. Red emergency lights lit the darkened corridor, devoid of any of the bustling crew that would normally be found there. Empty magazines and drained batteries littered the halls at intersections and choke points where what crew had been aboard fought back the Grimm. They checked towards the front of the ship a few turns and found blood painting the walls where a beowolf probably caught some poor straggler. Heading back towards the bridge in it's elevated position above the engines they found more evidence of a fight, barricades had been set up and abandoned, more spent ammunition, empty dust canisters, even scorch marks where somebody probably cranked up one of the plasma throwers every ship carried in case of another Grimm spore outbreak. The noise of a firefight became apparent as they grew closer to their objective and rounding the final corner they saw the bridge crew was holding off a thick pack of creeps completely filling the corridor from floor to ceiling.

"Get some!" Carla said charging ahead switching her weapon from its dual wielding form to breaching shotgun form with the blades forming a thick shield on either side of its barrels.

The unrelenting firepower of the hunters smashed the two sides of the Grimm pack and as Ruby sliced through the final one her uncle met her on the other side.

"How you holding up Rubes?"

"It's not so bad the second time, plus I didn't just watch my best friend die like last time."

"That's always a plus. Everyone's here right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good, follow me, these guys can hold this for at least a few more minutes, they sent some guys down through the express elevator to reach the marines armory and get some more equipment to hold that door with."

"Where's Winter?" Weiss asked.

"She's fine, just a little scratched up is all, says an Ursa Major got hold of her while she was off guard."

"As long as it's nothing serious."

The seven of them made their way up the entry ramp into the bridge where the view that awaited them was far worse than they expected from above the chaos below. Stretchers lined the walls, everything had been pushed out of the way to make room for medical equipment and there was already a small pile of body bags in the corner. The massive hundred and eighty degree window had been shattered by the crash and the blast doors had barely closed any before they lost power. Anxious looking marksmen watched the skies from the gap between the heavily armored doors. All displays were dark and the usual hum of the engine below them had died down to a dull throbbing whine that was barely noticeable. Winter sat in her seat behind the helmsman's post where a medic applied gauze to the shallow gashes along her ribs but the blood staining her sword suggested she dished more than she took.

"We need to get these men out of here, the front half has already been fully evacuated with their access to ground craft but we were pinned up here as the grimm poured in. Our best bet is a few bullheads or a smaller airship. Nadia how long would it take you to reach your ship from here?"

"About an hour or two, maybe less if a few blocks got taken out, I could probably just avoid streets and go by rooftop and cut some time that way."

"And do you think the Adder could carry all these men?"

"Definitely, she could carry two MBT's if they were stacked on top of each other."

"And what medical equipment do you have aboard?"

"The basics, no surgery equipment but enough for the more immediate injuries at least."

"Good, it will have to be enough. Everybody start loading up and preparing for transport," Winter turned her attention towards the men gathered around them waiting anxiously for any news of rescue.

"Who here knows how to overload the reactor?" Alton asked the assembled men.

"What are you planning?" Winter asked him.

"I'm planning to blow this half of the ship to hell once everybody's off."

"She's irreparable so it makes no difference and if you could take out that many grimm at once it would be a godsend. You have my full permission to continue with this, so long as you survive."

"If that's the case ma'am I'll go with them and do it," the ship's first mate spoke up, "I served in the engine room before my promotion to an officer, I know it better than anyone. the overload protocol is manual however, I'll be sacrificing my own life for it but I'm willing to, should you order me."

"I'm not sending you to die, you either go and come back or you don't go at all."

"All due respect ma'am, I'm not likely to survive this fight anyways, I'd rather go down with the ship I've lived on for the past twenty years than let her die without me, just make sure they write my name down somewhere with the ship's."

"Give em' hell soldier," Winter relented saluting the older man.

"Can do," the greying sailor said returning her salute.

"Alton, you stay safe, I don't want to come back to find you hurt," Nadia said as she grabbed some extra ammunition from the stock that had been brought up from the armory.

"Hey, when have I gotten hurt while you weren't here?"

"Never and I know if you did you probably wouldn't survive."

"Exactly, which is why I won't get hurt until you get back."

"Sure, I'll hold you to that," Nadia said pulling her partner into a tight hug.

"Since when are you a constrictor?" Alton gasped out of breath.

"Shut up."

The rest of them said their goodbyes and Nadia dropped out of the blast doors onto the deck below to start her trip back to the airship terminal where the Adder was.

"What a shame, to waste life like this, good soldiers, good people, but opposed to us they are nothing," Cinder hissed looking at the charred white armored bodies covering the paving of the square surrounding the CCT as she dropped the final corpse, their skull smashed between her gnarled Grimm fingers.

Her pupils had fully dilated and begun to glow red the instant the attack had started, the power of their mistress flowing into her through the arm she hid beneath her gown. A smile that was not her own crept across her scarred face at the carnage they had wrought. Already the White Fang saboteurs were scaling the tower placing explosives as they went to bring down the entire structure with the press of a single button. The placement wouldn't be done for the next four hours during which time they'd need to fend off the reinforcements from Atlas's ruined battleship and Mistral's own meager remaining defenses.

"Adam wants to talk to you," Emerald spoke up meekly from beside the demigoddess.

"The Bishop wishes to consort with the queen? Very well, he may finally have something worthwhile to say," the abomination within Cinder spoke forcing muscles and bones to it's bidding while the consciousness that usually held the wheel was thrown into the trunk.

Cinder's body walked with a jarring gait, joints jerking and bending at odd angles before smooth motion again and switching erratically between the two as the puppet took slow methodical steps like a child who was just learning to walk. The glow of the Maiden's powers hadn't faded from her eyes, the orange and red bleeding into each other giving her blank face a sickly ethereal brightness. The claws of her left hand flexed involuntarily as if still crushing a skull. Blood dripped from the fusion between Grimm and human where the physical strain threatened to tear them apart but the will of the arm's creator kept it in place. The glass entry doors had been smashed in the preceding firefight before she had arrived and slaughtered the remaining men so she stepped over the threshold, glass crunching beneath her heels. White Fang soldiers averted their gaze from the barely human monstrosity that walked amongst them. Adam sat waiting in a chair at the center of the massive computer filled room.

"And so the dark mistress Salem finally decides to speak with me, and yet again it's through her little puppet," Adam said, his lips curling in disgust.

"Were she capable she would kill you for that though it's not innacurate, she however is far more useful than you and I would not fault her for it. You can be replaced, she cannot. Now what was it you wished to tell me? And speak quickly my time here is limited," Cinder sat down in a chair near the White Fang commander and crossed her legs on muscle memory alone but her head slumped forward and sideways as all of Salem's focus went to speaking.

"I'd like permission to take some prisoners, a few particular people who've taken my interest."

"I don't care what you do with the people of this city, so long as they are out of the way and incapable of interfering you may do as you wish, is that all?"

"No. You promised us full control of the city when this was over, how do you plan to deal with the Grimm, there's too many for even my army to kill."

"They will be gone, so long as you order your men to ignore them they won't interfere. But if a single one of those weaklings you call soldiers harms so much as a single Grimm they will attack them ceaselessly and any who get in their way, be sure to convey that as well. Now if you are done wasting my time there are other things to be dealt with before my connection is severed."

"As you will then."

Cinder slowly stood back up her neck straightening with a popping sound before walking back outside her legs falling back into her typical pattern unfettered by Salem's control. Once out of Adam's sight Cinder slumped sideways onto Emerald's shoulder who managed to carry her down the steps where she emptied the contents of her stomach onto a bloodied and torn corpse that lay at her feet.

"Fuck," Cinder spat trying to clear her mouth and nose of bile while Emerald drew a canteen of water from her belt and offered it to her.

"Here."

"Thanks," Cinder gasped making sure to take hold of the canteen with her original arm and taking a long drink before handing it back.

"She's going to kill you at this rate," Emerald said worried for her leader.

"No, she knows my limits. I'll be exhausted for a few days when she's done but I won't die unless she wants me to."

"I wish it didn't have to be like this."

"She won't have it any other way. And we don't have a choice. Now let's get as far away from here as possible before she takes over again," Cinder nodded towards the bullhead they'd arrived in where Mercury waited at the controls.

"Come on," Emerald said gently helping the slightly older woman to her feet.

"Could you put a bandage on this?" Cinder pleased motioning towards the seam between the Grimm arm and her shoulder that was still bleeding lightly.

"I'll try, but you know how much it doesn't like other people touching it."

"Just stop the bleeding it doesn't need to be too tight."

"Alright," Emerald took out a first aid kit and gingerly wrapped a bandage around the splitting seam.

"Thank you," Cinder said as she nodded off to sleep in the bullhead's seat.

Emerald looked at the sleeping woman's half obscured face a feeling of sadness overtaking her before she snapped out of it and went up to the cockpit.

"How's she holding up?" Mercury asked.

"Not good, not good at all. She can't keep doing this. Too many minds in one body is going to break her."

"It already might have."

"There's more coming! Bullheads inbound!"

Yang looked skyward to see that even more White Fang were approaching the school now that their limited anti air defenses were out of commission. Just as it seemed they were about to get overwhelmed a hail of bullets tore through the engine of one of the ships sending it spiraling into the one beside it causing them both to explode into a massive fireball.

"Just in time for the real party!" Coco roared as team CFVY arrived on the final group of APCs before they locked down the fortress of a school.

"Glad you could make it, they've been tossing themselves at us for almost an hour, the Grimm are completely ignoring them," Yang called to them.

"They've been too busy with us," Velvet said jumping off the vehicle she'd been sitting on top of.

"Not exactly, there's Grimm everywhere, they've been attacking here, they've been attacking the transports, anywhere there are still people alive there are Grimm. There's at least ten beowolves to every person and more coming all the time."

"What the hell is going on? We're out of town for one day and it all goes to shit."

"Just everyday life for hunters in training these days," Yang said leading the team inside so they could resupply before the next assault.

"Any word from the ship?" Geppeto Polendina said catching up to Yang from where he glimpsed her passing one of the many makeshift medical wards.

"Not yet, I've tried to get a hold of my sister but she's not answering her scroll."

"I hope everyone's okay," the doctor said nervously.

"Your daughter?" Yang asked, he nodded.

"Don't worry, she's out cleaning up the docks, if it weren't for her we'd probably be dealing with sakalavae right now," Yang shuddered at the thought of fighting with more than one of the giant crocodile Grimm.

"I don't doubt her abilities, but a father will worry."

"Just get back to helping, work will keep your mind off it."

Geppeto nodded and headed back to treating the injured.

"Just tell us where the ammo is and we'll be back outside as soon as we've stocked up," Fox said.

"Down through the main hall and on the left, there should be a couple of guards. It's the nearest stockpile but it's not the only one," Yang said pointing in the direction they should go.

"Thanks, good luck out there," Yatsuhashi said as Yang turned to leave.

"You too," Yang said with a weak smile on her lips.

The roar of thrusters woke Weiss from the nap she was taking, she quickly pulled away from Ruby who's shoulder she'd fallen asleep on while they were waiting. Looking outside she saw the Adder was on approach for loading.

"She's here!" Weiss called to the rest of team ANCT.

"Alright everybody start loading up," Winter ordered as the blast doors were opened as much as possible to allow the Adder's ramp to be lowered to the floor.

Nadia strode out of the hold looking no worse for wear than when she left despite the blood coating the spikes of Sanguis Fons. She gave Alton a quick kiss on the cheek before they all started helping the injured aboard.

"Winter, I want someone capable to fly the Adder, I'm not leaving without my team."

"Understandable, I'll have my best pilot on it."

"Thanks. I'm not leaving these dumbasses again," Nadia said with a content smile on her face, happy to be back with her team.

"So we're dumbasses now, are we?" Tiphany asked jokingly.

"Not you, but we each have our assigned dumbass and you can't handle two at once."

"Well I'm glad I'm your dumbass and not anyone else's," Alton said through grunts as he pushed a heart monitor aboard beside the patient it was hooked to.

After half an hour spent getting everyone aboard the only ones left in the bridge were team ANCT, Weiss, Ruby, and the first mate after they managed to convince Qrow to go and protect the ship in case of an emergency.

"Let's get on with it then, no sense in waiting around," the first mate said impatiently as he opened a maintenance hatch that could lead to any part of the ship so long as you knew how to get there.

They crouched along, Carla crawling in the rear since her legs were barely too big for her to crouch through with. It took them a while longer than anticipated having to avoid Grimm that prowled the halls where the maintenance corridors met them. Eventually they all tumbled out of the final hatch into the massive engine room where the power core pulsed with a dull orange light in the wide open room covered in various pipes and conduits.

"I'll be staying here to set it off, now all you need to do is draw the Grimm away from me, there's no way to blow this thing besides a manual overload, normally if it overheats on its own it will shut down and emergency generators will go online, conventional explosives won't do anything and neither will any kind of brute force."

"Understood. It's been an honor sir," Alton said saluting.

"Damn kids, always saluting people they outrank, you're the same as the captain. You hold too much reverence for us old soldiers. Now get outta here!" the first mate said through laughter.

"Let's do this, everybody loaded up?" Alton asked in the hall outside the engine room.

Everybody nodded as magazines and dust levels were checked.

"Nadia, pull the lever!"

Nadia activates her semblance causing a howl to rise up among the Grimm and echoing through the halls.

"It's go time baby!" Nadia shouted as they all rushed forward down the hall towards the Grimm that were already approaching.

The six hunters obliterated the Grimm, the corridors being to small for anything bigger than an ursa made it easy for them to cut through the waves of weaker Grimm as they came in. Eventually they were far enough into the wreckage that Grimm were coming from all directions even clawing their way through the floor and ceiling. Everybody fell into a rhythm of teamwork as their pace picked up. Meeting heavier resistance one final push was made and they were out into the gap between the halves of the ship. Hundreds more Grimm awaited them outside and to Ruby the scene was oddly familiar.

"We need to take up position on that ledge over there, Nadia's semblance is barely covering the engine room and we need to get as far away from it as possible while still keeping the Grimm away," Alton said leading the way to a chunk of mostly intact room sticking out of the front half of the ship.

"Defensive positions!" Alton shouted as an absurd amount of Grimm swarmed into the crater.

The six of them formed a half circle around the ledge as more Grimm charged them. Slowly they were pushed against the wall by the never ending horde of Grimm. A wedge of Grimm formed in the middle and drove between them cutting the formation in half. Alton, Nadia, and Carla were stuck to the right and Weiss, Ruby, and Tiphany were on the left.

"We can't keep doing this!" Tiphany shouted across the rift.

"We only need a couple more minutes!" Alton shouted back.

The fighting drew on as more Grimm rushed in and stronger ones too. A goliath had somehow made it to the center of the city and was picking its way over the wreckage to take part in the rush of Grimm that were being drawn to Nadia's semblance. The ancient Grimm gave a trumpeting roar as it reached level ground and charged the small group of hunters.

"Be right back," Alton said winking at Nadia and finally putting his semblance to use.

The only thing that could be seen of him as he worked was a trail of small fires and burnt footprints that were hardly noticeable amidst the corpses of Grimm. From Alton's perspective it seemed the world has slowed to a crawl and he could make out every detail going on around him as he dodged through Grimm neatly decapitating those he could reach. Slowly building up speed the world continued to slow until it was nearly at a standstill and he seemed to be at his limit, knowing that was his moment Alton transformed Abbysus Ignis into its glaive form and leapt at the goliath putting the larger blade square in the center of its skull. As his semblance deactivated the momentum carried Alton at blinding speeds straight into the Grimm, the impact of his feet cracking the skull and his weapon going straight through the thick bone into the brain. Alton spun the long handle blade a few times for good measure before pulling it out and leaving the massive Grimm to fall. At least a hundred Grimm that Alton had passed on his ten second rampage fell to the ground, their heads removed within moments.

With a gap open on the right flank more Grimm poured in from the left taking some pressure off of the less experienced huntresses. Weiss had finally recovered from her large summoning a few hours ago and began to use the beowolves and ursa they killed against the ones that continued to arrive. Weiss pushed into the mass of Grimm, summons flanking her on all sides and glyphs being thrown left and right cutting through Grimm and forming barriers against them, Weiss seemed unstoppable and the Grimm had finally begun to thin out.

A rumbling echo followed by a deafening crack shook the ground a sign that their distraction had worked for the nearly ten minutes they'd spent fighting back what seemed to them like all the Grimm in Mistral. A wave of crackling energy followed closely by a fireball rapidly expanded from the engine of the Tödlich Flüstern as the reactor went critical. Weiss jumped back at the sight and put up glyphs to stop the blast from reaching them in a panic. For a moment the word was white, sensitive Faunus eyes blinded and even human eyes had to blink stars out of their vision.

Ruby regained her sight quickly enough to see Weiss collapse exhausted from all the summoning and glyph usage.

"Weiss!" Ruby screamed as she scrambled to her feet watching helplessly as Grimm began to pour into the crater once again after recovering from the explosion.

Red eyes seemed to stare deep into Ruby's own silver ones. The first beowolf to reach Weiss looked up at the young huntress and snarled causing Ruby to tip the edge her eyes flaring up and and the tears that had begun to fall were vaporized along with all the Grimm nearby. Ruby was barely conscious after the second flash of light faded from her vision and she stumbled forward over the rubble towards her partner. Alton ran over after he wiped the spots from his eyes a second time trusting that his teammates could handle themselves for a moment.

"Here come on, I've got you," Alton said taking Ruby's hand and guiding her to where Weiss lay.

Alton checked her pulse and found it was slow but steady and after a quick visual check found that she was no worse for wear than the rest of them. Turning back to his own team Alton saw that there were no major injuries and only minor cuts and bruises.

"All good here. We need a ride, ship's been blown according to plan though I'm pretty sure Ruby just did more work," Nadia said scanning the sky for a friendly bullhead to signal.

"Let's just get outta here," Ruby said quietly as she cradled her partner.

It was only a few moments before an Atlesian issue bullhead arrived and the pilot waved them aboard through the smoke clouded cockpit. Climbing aboard they saw it was Lieutenant Cream.

 _"Saw the explosion and flash of light, you guys okay?"_ She signed with concern in her eyes.

"We're good, our friend is out cold though."

 _"Better off than some people I've found tonight, now where to?"_

"We need to get to Haven as quickly as possible," Alton said inferring what had been said.

Cream nodded and revved up the thrusters sending them skyward. From above it looked far worst than the riots months before, rather than concentrated pillars of smoke rising from the bombing locations there was a wall of smoke surrounding three sides of the city, and rather than the minor damage of shattered windows and small fires massive fires raged across the shelled areas and nearly three blocks had been taken down by the crashing of the Tödlich Flüstern. Grimm could be seen wandering the streets and firefights dotted areas closer to Haven as the White Fang's true forces encroached on the safe zone.

"We've got incoming," Cream addressed all of them through her scroll.

"How many?" Nadia asked.

"Five."

"I can take out two, I'm out of rockets after that."

"My battery is just about dead, I could barely get it to transform to melee form, don't think I can get it back," Tiphany said checking the charge of Fulgur Mortem.

"Three it is then."

Nadia leaned out the side door and got a clean sight on the formation of White Fang ships tailing them before firing the last four of her rockets at them, two for each of the ships she'd chosen. The rockets flew true and brought down their targets but now the White Fang were returning fire and they had a lot more and a lot bigger rockets.

"Brace!" Nadia shouted pulling herself back inside and clutching for railings to keep herself from being thrown out by the blast.

The first rocket blast took off their left engine sending them into a downward spiral and took them out of the way of the rest of the volley.

 _"Bail out!"_ Cream frantically signed with one hand while struggling with the controls with her other.

Needing no further prompting the five of them jumped after Alton took Weiss from Ruby to lessen the impact just in case. Alton absorbed the shock of the five story fall landing perfectly but the rest of them had to roll to stop their momentum. The bullhead they'd just been in slammed into an apartment complex half a block away. Immediately taking off running to make sure Cream has survived they reached the crash quickly and found that the ship had been wedged halfway into the roof with the cockpit hanging off spared from the impact. Team ANCT managed to climb the three floors to reach it without going inside while Ruby pulled Weiss in through the front door just to stay out of sight. Ruby's scroll rang the moment she sat down beside Weiss's limp form.

"Hello?"

"Thank the gods you're all right Ruby, I've been trying to call you since I reached Haven."

"Hey Yang, yeah I'm alive, and uninjured. Just very tired," Ruby yawned as she spoke.

"I saw the explosion, I was really worried."

"I used my eyes again."

"That was the second flash I saw, right?"

"Yep, Weiss passed out while we were fighting a bunch of Grimm so I panicked. She's fine and very asleep."

"How much did she summon?" Yang gasped.

"A lot, hey could you get like an escort or something over here, our bullhead just got shot down just south of Haven."

"That was you? I'm already on the way if that's the case."

"Great, I'll be just inside the building it's stuck on, team ANCT are upstairs."

"See you soon Rubes. Stay safe."

"For what? Two minutes?"

"Two seconds," Yang corrected opening the door.

"Oh, hey Yang," Ruby said hanging up as her sister stepped inside.

"Glad to see you're safe, and Weiss too. I bet they need some help up there, don't they?"

"Probably, I'm gonna take a quick nap if I can."

"Go right ahead," Yang said allowing herself a small smile of content at knowing her baby sister was safe.

"Push harder!" Alton screamed trying to pry the emergency blast door off of the cockpit.

"I'm pushing as hard as I can!" Carla screamed back her metal fingers dug deep into the seal between the door and the hull.

"Move aside," Yang said stepping up to the door like a batter to plate before rearing back and punching the door off its hinges and through the cockpit window on the other side clearing the pilot and copilot seats entirely.

Nadia pushes past to check on her friend in the pilots seat and reeled back at what she saw.

"What the fuck?" Nadia whispered under her breath.

"What? What's wrong? How bad is it?" Alton asked trying to look past her at Cream.

"What. The fuck!" Nadia said gesturing inside.

"Oh, wow. That's not Cream."

In the cockpit was someone who looked a lot like the pilot they knew but rather than vanilla colored hair she had tricolored hair of pink, white, and brown; an aura of the same colors flickered around her as she stirred back awake. Shocked white and pink eyes stared back up at the assembled five hunters.

 _"Fuck,"_ Neo signed her eyes settling on Yang.

"Fuck is goddamn right! Who the hell are you really?" Tiphany shouted in outrage.

"She's with Cinder is who she is, she was Roman's little pet back when the bastard was alive," Yang said her, eyes glowing red.

 _"Me and Roman were partners, Blondie."_

"She said they were partners."

"Doesn't matter, she's one of the bad guys," Yang snarled, cracking her knuckles.

 _"Not really, we were in it for the money. Cinder's a bitch by the way. I ditched them after Vale and now I'm after them too. It's their fault Roman is dead, I don't blame any of you."_

"She says they only did it for the money, Cinder's a bitch, and she blames them for Roman's death and is after them now."

 _"Where's my damn scroll this'll be a lot easier that way."_

"Here," Tiphany said handing the small woman the device.

"That's better. Now as I was saying, I don't hold a personal grudge against any of you, you're just kids who were trying to survive and I can respect that, team ANCT I consider myself friends with, but Cinder is the one who got Roman roped into this mess and I'll be damned if I don't get myself out of it and take down the ones who got him killed. At worst I have a friendly rivalry with you, no more attempted stabbings, promise."

"You're a smug little thing aren't you, I think I liked it better when you didn't talk and I hated you," Yang said with a reluctant smile.

"You and me both Blondie but here we are," Neo shrugged before extending her hand to her.

Yang reaches to accept the handshake but as their hands connected the illusion shattered and Yang spun around at a tap on her shoulder.

"Third time you've fallen for that one," Neo's scroll said as she appaeared standing behind the group in her usual outfit, now with the addition of Roman's hat, scarf, and coat.

"You need a light for that?" Alton asked pointing at the cigar Neo held between her lips.

"I'm saving it for when Cinder's dead. It's the last one of his collection."

"The victory smoke, I like it."

"Can I say something?" Nadia asked.

"Sure," Neo's scroll transcribed.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to kill my sister? Because like, she's not exactly herself lately, or ever."

"Cinder's your sister?"

"Yes."

"And what do you mean not herself?"

"She's kinda possessed. Every now and then. She's not exactly happy about it."

"We'll see what happens when she's unpossessed, I'll decide then. Probably still gonna kill the bitch."

"She might deserve it, we haven't exactly bonded."

Everybody shrugged awkwardly and headed downstairs. Ruby looked up in shock as Neo strode confidently out the door ahead of everyone else.

"Long story, she's with us now, I think?" Yang said to her bewildered sister.

"Whatever, so long as it's explained once I've gotten some sleep I'm fine with it," Ruby muttered drowsily.

"Do you have anything to defend yourself with? I noticed you left your gun in there," Nadia asked.

Neo pulled back the coat to reveal Melodic Cudgel and her parasol hanging from her belt, "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes it does, moving on."

They made good time and reached Haven within a few minutes. One of the buildings nearest to the main entrance was engulfed in flames but it looked like the White Fang and Grimm hadn't gotten in yet. Corpses line the streets in all directions, bodies killed by hundreds of different things, blades, claws, bullets, teeth, it was a horrific sight but not irregular for some of them.

"State your names and intent!" a pair of Atlesian soldiers shouted from the barricade within the gate set into the wall surrounding the school.

"Team ANCT, plus a couple others!" Alton shouted back.

"Come on in, it's good to have a couple hunters back here. Go ahead and rest and restock while you can, we're low on medical supplies but everything else we've got more than enough of."

The six of them stepped inside the gate and saw the damage had remained minimal aside from the one burning building. Soldiers and hunters milled about outside trying to eat what they could stomach before the next attack. Stepping inside the main hall it was like a hospital on code black but this wasn't a hospital and half the people working had the barest amount of medical experience. Geppeto Polendina rushed over to the new arrivals having just finished putting someone's organs back where they belonged.

"Just a quick checkup before you're back in the fight, you've got half an hour to rest and recover so I need to be fast about this. Any symptoms of concussion or sensory numbness?"

Everybody shook their heads.

"Set her down over there, we need here awake I'll get her some stimulants and a bit of morphine she'll be back up in a moment. Now how are my two favorite pieces of work doing?" He said moving from Ruby who still held Weiss over to Yang and Carla.

"Eyes are doing good, handled two really bright flashes well and didn't keep me blinded for too long afterwards, legs and arm are doing fine, may need to increase the load bearing on the arm after this to avoid a situation like earlier but otherwise it's fine," Carla said summarizing the condition and performance of her prosthetics.

"Good, good. And you Xiao Long?"

"It's been working fine, I can barely tell it's there sometimes except when the phantom pains come back but they haven't been too bad yet given the situation," Yang said rubbing her stump.

"That's good, would you like some painkillers or can you stand it until this is over with?"

"Maybe some but I won't take them yet."

"Yes, good idea, save them for when the pain really hurts," Geppeto said measuring out two pills from a nearby bottle and handing them to her, "Just swallow when needed, may take a few seconds to kick in."

"Thanks doc."

"My pleasure, now back to work."

They watched the short man waddle back to another patient who's right arm was twisted at an unnatural angle and was raked with claw marks. Continuing down the main hall flanked on both sides by stretchers they made it to one of the ammo supply points. After quickly grabbing what they needed they headed towards the canteen where tables were lined with hot meals free for the taking for any who needed them.

"Just grab something you can eat quickly, we need to rest if we can," Alton said grabbing a stack of three slices of pizza and biting into all three at once.

"Mwah!" Ruby agreed enthusiastically through a mouthful of food.

"Gods I need to make sure she doesn't have a heart attack," Weiss grumbled shoving past team ANCT and Yang to help her partner pick healthier food.

"Glad to see you're awake Ice Queen," Yang called.

Weiss waved to her teammate without looking away from her partner.

"Time for a nap!" Carla exclaimed as she collapsed into a chair after gorging herself on the assembled food.

"Same," Tiphany said setting herself down beside her partner.

"What time is it?" Alton asked.

"Nearly midnight."

"Thanks babe. Now we've got about ten minutes to rest, I'm just gonna sit down here," Alton said sliding down the wall until he was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall.

"Team ANCT I want wheels up in ten minutes," Winter said stepping into the eating hall.

"FUCK!" Carla screamed snapping out of her sleep.

Winter gave the girl a strange look before turning back to the others, "The White Fang are planting bombs on the CCT and none of our troops can reach the base of the tower, you need to come in from above and work your way down."

"Yay, more paratroop ops," Nadia said half heartedly.

"Should we go with them?" Weiss asked after swallowing the last pieces of a slice of cheesecake.

"No, the tower is a veritable fortress and I remember what happened last time you tried airdropping into combat," Winter said with a sly smile.

"Sorry, I had to give a full recount of what happened," Alton apologized.

"This betrayal will be remembered Alton Goldenrod," Weiss snarled before continuing to eat.

"This is a mission for team ANCT only, the rest of you will be staying here and helping defend the school. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am," everyone answered.

"Good, the White Fang are gathering their forces and in case the walls are breached all civilians and wounded are being evacuated to the underground emergency shelters. No matter how this battle turns we will make our stand here. I can only hope we all see each other alive at the end of it."

"Agreed. I think our ten minutes is up, everybody ready?" Alton asked standing up and stretching.

"Where's Neo?" Nadia asked.

"What? Roman's partner is here?" Winter said warily drawing her sword.

"Chill out, she's cool, kind of. She was actually disguising herself as Lieutenant Cream this whole time and we found out after our bullhead crashed. She was with us when we got here and she's gone now," Nadia explained.

"Desperate times. Just keep her in line, I don't want any murders."

The squeaking of hinges drew everyone's attention to doors leading into the kitchen through the opposite end of the dining hall. Neo stood there at the doors with a spoon in one hand and a tub of neopolitan ice cream in the other.

 _"It's my favorite flavor," s_ he signed in explanation before giving a mock salute to Winter.

"Oum help us," Winter sighed before leaving them to their own devices.

"You coming with us?" Nadia asked Neo.

 _"No, I'd rather stay here and make my not so bad intentions known, earn some trust."_

"Suit yourself."

"In that case let's get moving," Alton said grabbing one last bite to eat before leading his team to where the remains of the ships once held aboard the Tödlich Flüstern were landed.

They boarded a similar landing craft to what they had been dropped off aboard during the evacuations in Vale. Through armored slots along the walls designed for gun barrels they could see the area surrounding the CCT had been fortified by the White Fang forces. Wires ran up and down the structure connecting the hundreds of explosives that covered it. In the glow of red signal lights lining the ceiling of the landing craft Alton took hold of Nadia's hand.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Love you too," She said resting her head on his shoulder as they waited for the lights to change color.

The lights flicked to yellow briefly before changing to green as the ramp fell and their presence had been noticed from the ground as evident by the latter of small arms fire against the thick armor plating covering every angle of the craft. The four hunters sprinted for the opening before jumping. In free fall they got their first full view of the situation and saw the last climber was putting he final charge on the tip of the tallest broadcast antenna.

"Kebab!" Carla shouted landing feet first on the climber skewering them on the antenna and riding their torn corpse down twirling like a pole dancer the whole way.

"Ten outta ten babe," Tiphany complimented her girlfriends performance.

"Thank you," Carla said bowing and drawing Libertas Lupus.

"You two deal with the bombs outside we'll clear the inside," Alton ordered.

"Alright, I'll go down the sides and toss the bombs for you to disable and they'll just fuck up everybody in there," Carla said opening the chamber that concealed the grappling hook in her arm and stuck it firmly into the gently sloping roof.

Nadia and Alton swung over the she of the roof and through the glass of the top floor and directly into a squad of White Fang. The elevator dinged just as blows began to connect and another squad of soldiers stepped out.

"So now it's a real party?" Alton asked as he shoved the Faunus he'd been fighting towards Nadia who smacked him into the newly arrived group with Fulgur Mortem.

Meanwhile outside Carla was steadily letting out line as she ran in a spiral down the tower grabbing and throwing explosives as she went, her heavy metal claws scratching and cracking the glass windows and scraping against the metal supports. The whistle and slap of heavy metal slugs slamming into the thrown explosives split the air every few seconds as Tiphany put her marksmanship to good use. Bullets shattered the glass under Carla's feet as the people inside took notice of her but she just kept running letting the few bullets that actually hit her just bounce off her aura. Down on solid ground a rhino Faunus and explosives expert Sal Acajou glared up at the huntress who was so easily dismantling his handiwork and he couldn't even pull the trigger or risk bringing the building down on top of himself and his troops. Yet more windows were shattered not by bullets this time but by the bodies of more White Fang soldiers being kicked through them. One Faunus fell screaming and landed dead beside Sal.

"Call back as many men as you can. We will wait for them here," Sal ordered picking up his duffel bag of custom shaped charges designed to be thrown and detonated mid air.

Taking his detonator in hand he relished in the comfortable grip on the device. Many of the soldiers that had been inside had gotten out and were waiting in formation around the base of the tower. The fighting inside the upper floors had stopped and all of the explosives around the outside of the tower had been destroyed. Deadly silence fell over the assembled forces, the strain of waiting taking its toll on their already weakened morale. More glass shattered as four objects were thrown from windows on different sides of the tower. Just before hitting the ground the objects exploded in massive fireballs incinerating any White Fang unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast. Fire covered the ground and corpses burned. Ears bled from the sudden loss of air pressure that multiple tons of oxygen being burned instantly would bring. Sal looked around as his troops scrambled in disarray before charging on his own into the CCT. As if waiting for him the elevator crashed into the first floor and from the top of the crushed machine stepped team ANCT.

"You're the one that did those bombings during the riots aren't you?" Carla snarled.

"One of my finest pieces of work," Sal admitted allowing pride to show through his voice.

"That work of yours cost me my arm and legs and now you're going to die from them," Carla snapped, bringing Libertas Lupus to bear.

"If that's how it ends so be it, I'll die on the right side of this war."

Carla charged the rhino Faunus as she unloaded explosive slugs in his direction while her teammates flanked the sides to deal with his remaining troops. Only one out of the four bullets hit their target but the small explosion tore a chunk from his bicep showing that he had no aura.

"You're going to fight us without aura?" Nadia asked in disbelief.

"I've never needed it, I'm good enough at my job to not need it," Sal roared in pain as he threw bombs wildly pressing the detonator whenever one got even close to one of his targets. The smal but powerful blasts slowly brought down pieces of Carla's aura as she weaved between them. Slowly she got closer to her target. Carla leapt straight towards and through a tossed explosive and landed on Sal pinning him to the ground with her cybernetic legs. The weight and size kept him almost completely incapacitated but still he struggled on the ground. His hand nearly reached another bomb from his bag but Carla burried on of the thick blades of Libertas Lupus in his elbow nearly cleaving the arm clean off. Sal screamed in pain and anguish as Carla leaned closer to the thick skinned man.

"You're dying tonight motherfucker, just depends on how you want to go. Decapitation? Left to bleed? Or shot?" Carla hissed digging her right leg into his chest causing him to wheeze as he strained for breath.

"I will die tonight, that is true. But not by your hand but my own. This tower will fall," feebly he raised his hand to press the second trigger on the detonator he still held threatening to blow all the explosives in his bag.

No explosion came and merely the thump of a severed hand on concrete before a screech of unparalleled pain escaped from Sal's lungs.

"Not today. And bleed out it is," Carla said before dragging the rough blades of her machetes down his chest tearing long ragged gouges not doing much actual damage but letting blood flow like water from a tap, "Can't forget these," Carla said smiling sadistically as she stomped and crushed the rhino Faunus's kneecaps.

"You are going to lay here in pain for the next few minutes before dying and no one will help you. Soldiers have already secured the rest of the area and your forces are decimated. Rot bitch," Carla said calmly as she stood over the dying terrorist.

Stepping away and towards her team who were already discussing defense strategy with Commander Cyan who had retained her emergency rank after the riots after arriving with what troops could be spared to hold the tower that was so vital to their communication outside of Mistral. Cyan's radio crackled drawing them away from strategy for a moment.

"This is Haven command, all available troops need to pull back immediately, the White Fang have launched their attack!" the panicked dispatcher was almost screaming into their microphone as gunfire could be heard around them before the signal cut out.

"Time to leave, good to see you again Cy but we really need to help deal with that, hold the place down for us while we're gone won't ya?" Alton said scrambling to grab Abbysus Ignis from the table he'd set it on before making a mad dash along with his team for a bullhead that was just dusting off and bound for the besieged school.

While the majority of the fighting was focused around the front entrance where the defenders were holding a very steady line with the help of hunters a few patrols were still tasked with watching the grounds near the rear of the school to make sure nobody snuck in, Yang was one of those patrols while Ruby and Weiss put their talents to better use clearing Grimm from their flanks and pushing them toward the rear of the White Fang assault force. Yang worries for her sister but along with a few other teams from Haven she knew she'd be alright in the end. Lost in her thoughts Yang wandered the open grounds of the school and was near where she thought the library should be. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a shadow move and she quickly spun around to see what it had been. There was nothing where darkness had once been but the third of a door closing led Yang to an entrance into the library. All the lights were out leaving the shelves shrouded in darkness as Yang made her way through the aisles. Turning back out into the center of the room Yang was met with a crackling electric blade to her throat.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" the person holding the weapon demanded.

"Just a huntress on patrol, we were supposed to keep people from sneaking in."

"Yeah, sure you're not some White Fang spy?"

"Says the person sneaking around out back?" Yang asked sarcastically.

"Everything alright Ilia?" a voice called from further inside the building.

"You shut up," Ilia hissed looking at Yang, "Yeah it's fine, just covering our tracks."

"You sure? And who are you talking to?"

"Nobody," Ilia called back.

"Ilia just let me help you for once, you don't need to do all the hard work yourself," the person speaking stepped into the library from the hallway and looked straight at Ilia and Yang.

"Blake?" Yang said completely thrown off guard by the sudden appearance of her partner.

"Yang?" Blake replied almost in a whisper after seeing her partner for the first time in almost two years.

"You two know each other?" Ilia asked releasing the blonde.

"Yeah, you could say that," the two said in unison.

 **Authors notes:**

Shoutout to AQuackingMonk, Deadcenter246, Kainschylde, and arinrose for following and favoriting the story since the last update, and Kainschylde again for commenting on the first two chapters, I guess you'll see this once you've caught up.

Damn it's good to be back. Now that school's in full swing I actually have time to really write again.

Sun's finally back with his team.

Lots of fight scenes this chapter, trying to get back into the choreography of these versions of characters rather than my other fic.

Mistral is just swamped in Grimm, everything is just pushing in at once. It's almost as if it's a coordinated attack led by a single intelligence that understands the importance of actual strategy.

The leviathan just got fucked up

So did the Tödlich Flüstern however

The dusty old crow would rather fly north for Winter

There's a betting pool among the Schnee Manor staff on which member of the family lives longest, most bets are on the kids

I just love writing about giant swathes of destruction caused by massive vehicles or creatures passing through or dying, thanks Pacific Rim

Eerily deserted halls and signs of fights everywhere, my favorite thing, that one you can blame Halo for

Splitting the team is a bad idea in this scenario but it didn't go terribly

Cinder, meet not so Cinder

White Fang grunts = shooketh

That scene was designed to show just how inhuman some of the baddies can be along with just how human they can get at the same time

Em's starting to develop more of a crush than she already had

Side characters, side characters everywhere

Reused jokes, reused jokes everywhere

Hmmng cute White Rose shit but it's a desperate situation making it even more heartfelt

Nadia ain't ditching her boyfriend

Final stand old dude that's gonna get replaced by somebody else you'll probably never guess who though

Slog through a maze of death, fun times

Fighting for your lives in a situation suspiciously similar to a dream you had last night

Oh shit it's exactly similar

Wait nevermind there definitely wasn't a micro payload nuclear grade explosion in the dream

Or the magic laser eyes for that matter

Or the intense passion for your teammate, no wait that was there

"Flashbang out!"

These summaries are literally just for extra words and to make myself feel better as a writer but this was already 10k without it so you can just skip it if you want

Cream!

Not Cream?

Neo!

Best girl has arrived and she's on the warpath.

Maybe.

Depends on how bad the bad guys actually are.

Food time, then nap time, and if you're lucky food nap time (that's the best one of all)

Back to fighting

Back to badass and short fight scenes (in my humble ego stroking opinion)

Another side character? Who woulda thunk it?

And back to Haven

And back to Yang

And back to BUMBLEBY

Oooh but the angst, the mystery, the **ANGST** , shall be saved for next time.

Until then just reread this, or read something else, or leave a comment because I crave validation and maybe criticism if you're not an asshole about it.


	19. Two Losses Make a Victory

Silence fell heavy between the ex partners and Ilia who stood off to the side very confused.

"I didn't realize you were in town, I would've called and said hi," Blake said smiling weakly.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Yang asked with the barest hint of hostility in her voice.

Blake flinched at Yang's tone, "Just trying to help. We found out about Adam's plans and immediately came to help prepare for it but we weren't expecting it so soon."

"Guys, now's not really the time for this. Like I know it's been a while but there's kind of a war going on," Ilia said ushering the two of them into the hall.

"You're right. We'll talk later okay Yang?"

"Maybe I don't want to talk," Yang growled as they continued back towards the central buildings.

"Why not? It's been almost a year and a half, there's a lot to catch up on."

"Exactly. A year and a half. Not a few weeks, not a month or two, not even a year. A year and a half. No contact. No note. No letters. No calls. Nothing. You left without a single fucking word!" Yang spat.

"Yang, I..." Blake choked on her words, "I was afraid. Not of Adam. I was afraid of you, what you'd think of me if I came back after leaving you like that."

"You still left me! You left me when I needed you most," Yang had tears streaming from her eyes now.

"You didn't hear what he said! He said he was going to destroy everything. Starting with you. I couldn't let him come after you again so I went as far away as I could."

"Yeah, you ran! You said it yourself, you always run from your problems and I thought you were past it."

"I did too, but I'm here now aren't I? This is my problem now. The White Fang are my problem, Adam is my problem, and you are my problem."

"So that's what I am to you? A problem?"

"No, not like that. I didn't know how you'd react, I didn't know what you'd think of me. I still don't. I just want you to tell me, do you hate me? Do you hate me for leaving you?" Blake grabbed Yang by the shoulders and said this through watering eyes almost on the brink of tears herself.

"No. I don't hate you. But I sure as well wish I did because this would be a lot easier."

An explosion shook the building and took the two girls attention off of each other. A fireball covered the entrance courtyard and the dead and unconscious bodies of hunters and soldiers had been scattered everywhere by the blast.

"Time to run!" Ilia shouted rushing ahead down the hall towards the battle.

"This isn't over," Yang snarled at Blake before running off after the chameleon Faunus.

"I know it's not, it won't ever be."

* * *

Bullets ricocheted off of Neo's parasol as she twirled through the tumultuous ranks of Grimm and White Fang slashing with her rapier and firing Melodic Cudgel at meatier targets. Silently giggling in delight she thrusted her blade through a White Fang thug's throat and smashed the skull of another with the cane. Finally killing the last of the group that had surrounded her she sheathed her blade back into the parasol and walked towards the next scuffle twirling Melodic Cudgel as she walked. Numerous roars marked the arrival of the largest of the Grimm. An Alpha King Taijitu towered over the walls of the school, both of its heads hissing and searching for targets as other Grimm climbed the walls and went through the main entrance that had been blown completely open and part of the walls around it demolished. The roar of a bullhead's engines overhead took the view of one of the Taijitu's heads skyward giving Alton the perfect angle to land on the top of its skull and pierce straight through it with Abbysus Ignis in naginata form. Pulling the bladed staff out Alton launched into a set of summersaults and flips that made him look like a saw blade running the length of the giant snake Grimm before finally piercing the snout of the beast and using the momentum of his semblance to carry him and the snake's head over the wall as the rest of its body disintegrated with the death of its second head. A beringel stood waiting for Alton on the other side of the wall but was quickly dealt with as Nadia made her landing atop its head with Sanguis Fons.

"Incoming!" a scream cried out from above as Carla plummeted towards the ground even faster than they had as she had fired her grappling hook into the ground and was using it to accelerate her descent.

Twisting her arm Carla got the hook free of the ground and quickly fired it into a tower and used her momentum to swing through Grimm. She finally landed feet first on a giant deathstalkers face plowing the demonic arachnid into the ground and crushing its skull causing her cybernetic legs to be buried knee deep in gore that quickly disappeared.

"Come at me fuckers!" Carla roared charging straight into the fray, sweeping down Grimm left and right.

A glint of white armor through the turmoil drew the cyborg berserker through the crowd to where an Atlesian soldier was pinned beneath a White Fang thug. Carla tore the aggressor off of the soldier and pulverized a couple ribs as she backhanded him away with her mechanical arm. Turning back to the soldier she took his hand and helped him to his feet. Through the blood and grime plastering her face he saw the maniacal glee shining in her eyes and it infected him. He grabbed his gun from the ground and the machete the White Fang thug had discarded in favor of the grapple and charged with her into the fray. A dull orange glow began to emanate from Carla, spreading throughout the area and affecting every ally in the same way.

A synchronized battle cry rose through the defenders ranks as they pushed the advantage that a team of extremely powerful hunters gave them. The few remaining White Fang began to back off after seeing the ferocity that had overcome the soldiers and rag tag militia. Sparing them no mercy Carla continued to lead the charge and drove back Grimm and Faunus alike. Carla's smile grew wider as she looked to her right and saw a line of people beside her as they pushed their defensive line right back to the gates but the smile was wiped from her face as half of their right flank was cut clean in half. As bodies collapsed the orange glow faded and through the pooling blood stepped Adam Taurus.

"Back off Carla, I've got him handled."

Alton stepped in front of his teammate and transformed Abbysus Ignis into its dual wield mode.

"Ah. It's you. I honestly didn't expect to see you again after your attack on our fortress."

"Yeah well, your little pet monster? I was faster than it. And I'm even faster now!" Alton lunged forward in a blur and reappears inches from Adam's face with both blades of Abbysus Ignis pressed against his neck.

Adam barely flinched at the threat and merely looked past him at the carnage Haven had become. His eyes caught on a silhouette in the background and only then did he flinch.

"I don't have time for you. Not when my real target is here."

"You're not going anywhere fuckface."

"And who's this? Your partner?" Adam asked sarcastically as Nadia stepped toward the two of them.

"Yes as a matter of fact. I'm the partner who's going to make sure you're the first person to have a self prostate exam done with horns."

"Plucky isn't she?" Adam said coldly.

"You bet your Hot Topic looking ass I am!"

Nadia swum Sanguis Fons into the back of the bull Faunus's head and the hit connected with the base of his skull making him see stars.

"As I said I don't have time for this!" Adam snarled through gritted teeth as he fired Wilt into Alton's gut and pushed past while he was reeling.

Adam was making a run for it but their fourth teammate had other ideas and her thoughts were spoken through a five ounce metal slug going mach eight slamming straight into his forehead. The metal flattened and melted against his aura but he kept moving. Until another slug slammed into his forehead and he stopped. And then another into his knee causing him to fall. The last shot went into his right shoulder which made him cry out in pain despite his aura still being at least at half.

"Still haven't exactly healed from our last fight have you, edgelord?"

"You are truly insufferable aren't you?" Adam screamed as he unleashed his semblance on the building Tiphany had been shooting at him from.

The attack brought down the front half of the structure but Tiphany had already relocated. The echoing sound of his semblance rang out through the battleground over all other sounds of combat.

* * *

"He's here," Yang said.

"I expected as much. He wouldn't leave such an important attack unsupervised."

"So what are we going to do? Are we going to avoid him and hope for the best? Or are we going to do something about it?"

"We'll fight him. He's already weak and fighting someone else. We can help them."

"I'm not sure if I can fight him Blake."

"Of course you can. You're stronger than you were before. Even I can see it. Just follow my lead and everything will be fine," Blake took both of Yang's hands and tried to show confidence.

Yang smiled weakly and followed Blake towards where the two on one fight was taking place.

"Enough!" Adam roared in frustration as he unleashed his semblance in a downward strike directed at Alton who deflected it with a simple backhand.

Adam grunted as he brought the sword around for another semblance infused strike. The blade was caught between Alton's arms and the force of the impact threw up dust in a massive cloud around the fighters. Adam struggled to free his weapon and looked up as the dust cleared to see a glint of yellow through the cloud. Blake made out Adam's silhouette and swung Yang forwards at high speeds with Gambol Shroud. Yang screamed in fury as she soared through the smoke and drove her mechanical fist straight into Adam's nose sending the bull Faunus flying across the courtyard and into a wall. Adam coughed as he righted himself and pushed his nose back into place under his mask with a crunch. Blood streaked the mask that was now cracked down the middle.

"You again. You're only getting in the way."

"Getting in the way of what?" Blake said as she stepped up beside Yang.

"Blake. You know I can't let you get away this time."

"Adam. So naive. You really think I'm running this time?"

"Then you will both die. A victory for the Faunus. Another dead huntress, and another dead traitor."

Adam lunged forward and was intercepted by an ice clone courtesy of Blake. The ice shattered quickly but gave both Blake and Yang enough time to flank the unprepared bull. Hooking Gambol Shroud around a lamppost Blake swung herself at Adam who attempted to cut her out of the air but as he turned his back to Yang she launched herself towards him with Ember Celica and delivered a powerful hook to his gut and fired a shell on impact peppering his side with buckshot through an already failing aura. Adam stumbled from the heavy impact leaving him open to attack from Blake who took full advantage of it by swinging down and delivering a direct and swift kick to the throat sending their already wounded and disoriented foe reeling backwards into the blood soaked dirt. Adam scrambled backwards before managing to get back to his feet.

"Hey Taurus! Seeing enough red yet?" Nadia called causing Adam to turn just in time to see a red tipped incendiary rocket make impact with the ground directly in front of him.

Jumping out of the way of the flames Adam took a look around at the four hunters who were definitely in a lot better shape than he was. Managing to swallow his pride Adam activates his semblance and slashed Wilt into the ground throwing up rubble and creating a sizable crater between him and his opponents to cover his retreat.

"Who's running now?" Yang taunted.

A shudder escaped Blake causing Yang to look at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't believe we did it. We actually beat him. Not without help of course but we proved it can be done."

"Hold on, you're acting like you didnt think we could when you're the one who said we could do it."

"I was trying to be brave. I was doing it to help you when really I was terrified. I was afraid what happened last time would happen again, that he might kill you."

"I'm not dying anytime soon. If I can help it we're not getting separated for a while because you've got a lot of missed time to make up for," Yang forced a smile causing Blake to smile back.

"Hey Blake. Glad to see you followed up on my advice."

"Oh I recognize you, you're the chick from the bar fight!" Nadia realized, "So Alton, care to explain how you're already acquainted?"

"Well, I went back inside for that bottle of liquor and saw her out back and realized I recognized her from Weiss's picture of team RWBY and decided to have a little chat with her about returning to her team."

"Thanks for that. I probably wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for that. I'd probably be down at the docks or something."

"You wouldn't be needed at the docks. Penny's handling that whole half of the city," Yang explained, "And why didn't you tell me she was already here?"

"Well, I wanted her to handle this herself, there's obviously still a big rift between you two and this personal victory will help mend that."

"Wait. Penny? As in the Penny we all watched get destroyed on live television?" Blake asked completely confused.

"The one and only, she died for a while but she's fine now and she's got some serious new firepower. And some countermeasures against such a bad encounter with magnets."

"I'll have to meet up with her after all of this. Meanwhile there's still Grimm all over the place here," Blake said looking back towards the gate that had become a no mans land after the White Fang had been pushed back and the Mistrali forces and the Pack militia had retreated to the central school grounds to better protect the civilians inside.

"Chief! We've got reinforcements!" Carla shouted out a window.

"Who?" Alton callee back.

"The Nikos Tribe!"

"Oh fuck yeah!"

"They're coming to evacuate civilians to the Nikos Manor, they've got enough room and supplies there for most of the injured and more than enough fighters to defend the place."

"Good, then we can focus on clearing out the rest of the city without worrying about defending civies until help from Atlas gets here."

"Atlas is sending more troops?"

"Just a carrier and her escorts. Not even close to an occupying force but enough to clean up this mess and get our own injured troops back home."

"Oh shit! Guys we need some more help over here, the bastards who took my eyes are back!"

"Fucking salamanders! They'll set fire to the whole place."

"Better make sure another building doesn't go up in flames on my watch," Blake said following Alton and Nadia back towards the fighting that was now heavily in the defenders favor with the majority of the White Fang out of the way.

"Wait another?" Yang sputtered as she ran to catch up.

"I might've set my house on fire during an assassination attempt on me and my parents."

"What the fuck?" Yang muttered to herself.

A fiery explosion from the far side of the campus urged the four to run faster

* * *

Waves crashed against the docks as the Pride was rocked by another bout of recoil from the main cannon. Grimm swarmed the berth, mostly beowolves and boarbatusks as the majority of stronger Grimm had gone inland towards Haven. The crew of the ship had locked themselves inside and could only look through the portholes in fear at the ever growing number of monsters just barely out of reach.

"Would you stop shooting for one minute? You're just making them angrier!" the captain pleaded his first mate who had taken it upon themselves to defend their ship.

"I stop shooting, we stop breathing! So shut up and be thankful I actually know how to operate this thing," the captain shrank back at their retort.

"They've got a point," a crewmate muttered in agreement earning him a glare from the captain.

Another shell was fired scattering the Grimm in its path and obliterating those that were even close to its impact. A bright green flash blinded the crew for a brief moment and when they looked back the Grimm had been almost wiped out, the few that remained had been cute cleanly in half.

"Did you do that Matte?" the captain asked.

"Nope, but it sure looked like Atlesian laser tech, never seen it in green before though."

A knock on the nearest hatch drew everyone's attention away from the quickly deteriorating Grimm.

"I've got it," Matte shoved past their crewmates who were still petrified.

Pulling the reinforced metal entrance open they revealed a short ginger haired woman waiting for them.

"Salutations! Is anybody injured?"

Matte was slightly taken aback by the girls strange way of speaking before responding.

"No, everybody is okay. What about you, you're uh, sparking," they pointed towards where an angular fin protruded from the girls back.

"Oh! I hadn't noticed my flight systems were damaged, thank you for informing me. Could you tell me how many people are still aboard while I repair this?"

"All thirty crew are aboard right now miss...?"

"You may call me Penny," Penny said as she concentrated on focusing her aura on repairing the damaged parts.

"Weren't you that Atlesian contestant at the actual festival?" Matte asked letting their curiosity get the better of them.

"Yes," Penny hesitated as she chose her next words carefully, "I died for a while but I got better."

"I'm not even going to ask about that. Are you going to get us out of here?"

"An airship is already en route. You look familiar, did you ever serve in the Atlesian Navy?"

"No."

"Yes you did. Ensign Skye, dishonorable discharge pre graduation of the Naval Academy. No information is available describing cause of discharge. Pending reinstatement at General Ironwoods request."

"Wait what?"

"After a personal investigation into your discharge and multiple other cases of similar origin the general discharged the officers responsible for them and issued formal apologies and reinstated all others affected but it appears you weren't available at the time. As the local contingent of Atlesian forces is in a state of emergency I'm obliged to ask if you'd like to be reinstated to full combat duty."

"You're not gonna leave us are you?" the captain asked from the hatch where he had been listening in.

"You bet your sorry asses I am! Find a new gunner! I'd like to be reinstated."

"Issuing formal reinstatement now. Welcome back Ensign Skye, Captain Winter Schnee is glad to have you."

"This day just keeps getting better."

"Oh well, they only settled for us, now they've got what they really want."

"Hell yeah I do! This dinky piece of shit would never be enough for me and if it hadn't been for me she would've sunk a long time ago."

"Evacuation airship is inbound. All civilians will be taken to Nikos Manor for the remainder of the conflict. Ensign Skye you will be dropped off with me at Haven to assist with its defense and the establishment of a proper forward base in the retaking of Mistral, I hope you haven't gotten rusty in the past two years."

"Give me a gun and a uniform and I'll be ready to go."

"A spare uniform in your size has already been retrieved from the logistics unit and you have your choice from the armory."

"It'll be good to back aboard a proper ship for once."

"Sadly you'll have to wait for that."

"What happened to the ship that was here earlier?"

"The Tödlich Flüstern went down after an encounter with an airborne Leviathan class Grimm at oh one hundred hours this morning, it's reactor was overloaded in an attempt to remove Grimm from the area, an attempt that partially succeeded at the cost of the first mates life."

"Damn. It was a beautiful ship too."

"Indeed, a shining example of engineering despite being outdated. Captain Winter has already been assigned a freshly refitted cruiser just back from the testing grounds. It has yet to even be named and is being flown in under its production designation of ACD 789."

"Love that new ship smell. Looks like our ride is here," Matte looked up at the small transport airship that was being used to transport the evacuated civilians.

"Indeed it is! Would you please ensure that everybody is here?"

"Already checked, everybody's up here."

"Sensational. Everybody aboard," Penny ushered the thirty one crew aboard the airship that had come to a hover right beside the Pride.

"So, you're a robot right?"

"To a degree yes. It may be more accurate to call me a cyborg or a vessel. I have an aura and soul that aren't artificial but my body is entirely mechanical though it does mimic many of a normal body's functions very well."

"So all of your weapons are built in right? During the Vytal Festival it looked like your swords just appeared out of nowhere."

"That was the previous model, considering it's failure I've had some significant upgrades done including having my swords being guided by electromagnets in my hands instead of wires to prevent an accident like before."

"But how are they powered? The lasers they fire have an extraordinary amount of energy for wireless weaponry."

"Wireless energy transfer, my aura is used as a medium to send energy from the central power core to other systems to prevent as much loss of function in case of damage. There are no wires. Everything is self contained."

"That's so cool! Do you think I could ever maybe do some work on you? Not like in a weird way but I'm just so interested to see how it all works. Your technology is incredible, it's impossible to tell you're mechanical from a glance but so much of you is while at the same time you're also a living thing with soul and personality like anyone else."

Penny blushed at the flattery.

"I'd have to ask my father but he's always happy to have a couple extra hands to help out around the lab."

"That would be great! I've always wanted to work on more advanced tech but after leaving the military I lost all my opportunities to do it. I've kept up to date on the latest developments though."

"Trust me, nothing you're going to end up seeing is public knowledge, I am in the most technical sense a top secret military weapon."

"Yeah, a top secret weapon that blushes when I talk about how well made she is," they teased.

"I'm starting to regret asking for that function."

"It's what makes you so believable, you react like a person, without all the physical evidence some might mistake you for an unsettingly good emotion emulator. Mostly just because of some of your speech patterns though."

"I have been working on that. Imitating my friends sometimes. It was hard learning how to talk again when I first got one of these bodies. That's even more of a secret though. I might tell you later however," Penny whispered as the airship came to land and medical personnel rushed to take the wounded aboard into one of the fully stocked medical buildings around Nikos Manor.

"Back to Haven now?"

"Indeed. But not by airship, this one is on a different course to pick up more stranded survivors. I'll be taking you."

"But, aren't your flight systems still damaged?"

"I didn't just shove them back inside, I have some manner of self repair," Penny said as the wings unfolded from her back, "See? Good as new!"

"How? There's no way a fully automated repair system could fit in such a small chassis."

"I have a full compliment of micro repair bots, mostly designed for internal damage but if anything external is damaged they can repair it from the outside by exiting through the wound itself or one of many access ports on my body, like this one."

Penny put her hand out and a small hatch in her palm popped open and a small crab like robot crawled out and wandered around on her skin causing her to laugh.

"You're ticklish?"

"Yes, I felt it was a necessary attribute to have."

"That seems counterproductive, it's a panic response that could be taken advantage of in combat."

"I have ways of disabling certain systems for power preservation and functionality. Just like the human body has ways of overpowering those instincts."

"Your dad thought of everything."

"Almost everything. There's a couple things still missing but they will come with time and new technology. Now we must be on our way, too many airships are damaged and we have need of good mechanics."

"And I'm nothing if not a good mechanic."

Penny nodded before taking hold of Matte underneath their arms.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

The whir of small engines filled the air as Penny warmed up the thrusters that allowed her to fly. Bending her legs in preparation Penny began to throttle up to get enough thrust for takeoff. She increased the throttle even more as she jumped and took to the air with ease.

"I hope you don't mind us flying low, it's difficult to gain altitude with cargo."

"It's fine. Just a little exhilarating."

"I've still yet to fully mimic the effects of adrenaline yet but I can feel excitement. I'm always excited to take to the air."

Penny increased her speed again to help get them above the tree line as they headed towards the city. One minute later they were on approach for Haven and Penny was beginning to slow down and angle upwards as she engaged the hover thrusters that helped her maintain forward movement while landing. She released Matte as they touched down and retracted her flight equipment.

"Ensign Skye. I knew I recognized your name somewhere, I remember the general discussing what potential you had after an inspection of the academy."

Penny and Matte turned and were at attention as they saw that Winter was waiting for them.

"With all due respect ma'am that potential didn't keep me from getting kicked out."

"The removal of you and others was a scandal and orchestrated by an officer with very... traditional views and felt the military should reflect those views. Now come, your new uniform is inside and you have almost free reign of what was salvaged from the armory."

"Lead the way then captain."

Matte followed her new captain into Haven which had now been secured after the all out attack that had been launched. Very few civilians remained in the area, the majority of those who did were assisting with repairs and medical treatment. Hunters and soldiers bustled about the corridors, the bright outfits of hunters standing out among the browns of Mistrals forces and the white armor of Atlas's.

"We've put our remaining armory stocks in Havens armory for functionality's sake. You'll be able to tell what's ours and what isn't."

Matte nodded and began to look over a cluster of weapon cases in the center of the room where hunters in training would normally keep theirs. Finally choosing a compact but powerful plasma cycler Matte holstered it and strapped it to their waist.

"I've got their uniform," a soldier from the logistics unit announced from the doorway.

"Excellent. Go ahead and get dressed, you're assigned to the repair team for now and we've got more grounded airships than I'd like."

"Understood."

Winter walked out of the armory and headed towards the now almost empty medical wing. The cots lining the walls were barren save for a few heavily wounded soldiers and some civilians who's condition was too severe to be moved. Heading towards where a nurse was tending one of her own men she nodded at the soldiers she passed along the way.

"If you're here to check on your men they're all stable," the nurse instinctively said as this was Winters fifth visit already.

"I'm not here to check on them. I need to get this bandage removed and I can't exactly do it with one hand."

"You're right, your aura handled that scratch nicely. No scarring. I'll get that off for you," the nurse unwrapped the tape keeping the bandage tight and then cut the bandage itself off before rolling down the captain's sleeve.

"Thank you."

"Just doing my job ma'am."

"Captain! News from the CCT, we've got a massive fleet of unnidentified airships on approach!"

"The hell? Get me a ride there and tell them to begin hailing, if there's no response all forces have full permission to open fire."

"Now hold on, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"What are you doing here Qrow? I thought you were out clearing the perimeter."

"It's a quick job when you can turn into a bird. Give it a couple of seconds and you'll have an explanation."

The smell of ozone filled the air as a rift appeared between the two and Raven stepped out along with Vernal.

"Raven. You'd better have a good explanation for flying your fleet into a city that's under siege."

"I'm not here to attack, you know our tribes rules, no killing civilians. We're here to help. We can see you're lacking in firepower and manpower, the tribe has plenty of both and we've already handled your shelling problem, our men have retaken the defense guns and are shelling the Grimm before they get into the city. Now would be a good time to say thank you brother," Raven said with a smug grin.

"I'll thank you when this is over and done with. And when you apologize to Tai, he was difficult to deal with after you left. And you need to have a very long talk with your daughter, a talk that ends with you apologizing too."

"For fucks sake Qrow, I know I fucked up! I'm trying to fix this."

"Then get on it."

"Fine. Vernal, back to the ships, I'll be handling our less public affairs, you command in my absence."

"Yes Raven," Vernal said backing up through the portal Raven had created.

"So this is the infamous Raven Branwen. I have to say I expected you to be more intimidating."

"I can be plenty intimidating, right now I'm trying to be friendly though it's particularly difficult sometimes."

"I can see that. Your help is appreciated. You do realize I expect your tribe to follow laws while they're here."

"Trust me, if a single one of them does anything out of step I'll deal with them before you have to. And they're all perfectly aware of that."

"Good. We can trade embarrassing stories about your brother later."

"Wait hold on!" Qrow protested as the two women began walking.

"What?" Raven said giving her brother an annoyed look.

"We need to get to the relic. Cinder's already here, last sighting of her and her posse was at the CCT."

"Damnit, I was hoping they'd back off once we had the upper hand."

"Winter is anybody guarding the headmasters office, and speaking of where's Leo, I haven't seen the old bastard since the attack started."

"I'm... not sure actually. I know nobody was guarding his office but I definitely haven't seen him."

"Shit!" Qrow pulled out his scroll, "Ruby! Get everybody back here, Cinder's after the relic already."

Qrow hung up before his niece could respond and took off running in the direction of the headmasters office. Raven followed behind him with Winter in tow.

"What the hell is going on?" Winter asked as they ran.

"Ironwood's got you informed on our little conspiracy right?"

"To a degree. I'm aware of the maidens and the relics but I don't know where or who any of them are."

"Recap, Cinder is the fall maiden after she killed the last one and the next candidate during the attack on Vale, there's one relic in each kingdom, Mistrals is kept in a vault under Leo's office, if they get hold of it they'll have the advantage with one maiden and a relic to our one maiden and two relics."

"We still have more relics though."

"Not against the Relic of Knowledge we don't. They can ask it any question so long as it's about something that's already happened or is currently happening."

"Shit! They could know everything about our defenses."

"Yeah, and where the other relics are."

"Qrow! What happened to the other maiden and relic we had?"

"The summer maiden was taken out in Vacuo during the riots here along with Shades headmistress. The Vale relic is missing but we know Cinder doesn't have it. All we have now is the winter maiden and the relics of destruction and and creation. And we can't even get to destruction without the summer maiden."

"But they cant get the relic of knowledge without the spring maiden right?"

"Well you said you lost her so they could have her for all we know."

"That was a lie."

"What?"

"I know where the spring maiden is."

"Where?"

"Right here," Raven said as her eyes began to glow.

"For fucks sake Rae!"

"Sorry little brother, I had to protect my tribe."

"Damn it. You could have saved us a lot of trouble."

"Both of you stop it! The office is right here."

The three of them stopped in front of the heavy wooden doors. Heavy footsteps echoed from the other direction down the hall.

"Uncle Qrow! I got everyone I could find!"

"Good job kid."

Now gathered outside the door was team RWBY back together, Jaune, Oscar, Neo, and team ANCT.

"Where's Ren and Nora?" Qrow asked.

"Couldn't find them, last I saw they were using his semblance to hide civilians from Grimm while evacuating them," Jaune answered.

"This might be enough. Might," Qrow muttered as he kicked open the door and was greeted to the sight of the vault hidden in the floor wide open and the pitch black stone steps leading under the school.

"Fuck."

Qrows eyes sweeped the room and settled on a pool of blood spreading from behind the large desk across from the door. He stepped over to investigate and made a look of disgust before turning back to the door where everybody else waited.

"Leo's dead. We need to get down there before they can do anything."

"I'll lead the way," Raven said as she drew her sword and her eyes began to glow.

"Right behind you."

Raven looked at her daughter who had stepped forward to follow her down and nodded in affirmation. The group got into single file order with Yang and Raven leading as they descended into the darkness of the relic vault.

"So that's your partner?" Raven whispered.

"Was my partner. What are you doing here anyways?"

"There's a lot to say behind that but I'll keep it simple, I'm the spring maiden, I've got a lot of emotions pent up and quite a bit of self loathing I've been keeping at bay, and I've decided that now's as good a time as any to try and make up for everything."

"You've got your work cut out for you, I'm not going to make it easy."

"I know you won't, you don't need to accept my apology but I am sorry."

Yang sighed.

"So what do you mean was? Why aren't you partners anymore?"

"She left me. Just like you did. When I lost my arm, she left right afterwards."

"She probably had her reasons, they might not have been the best ones but they would've seemed justified to her at the time. If she's back now she might've come to a similar conclusion as I did. You're not someone to just be thrown away like that."

"Not exactly a vote of confidence from the mom that ditched me as soon as I was born."

"I didn't leave that early. I stuck around until you were two months old and then I left. Long enough to create an attachment for my portals. And I still checked in on you, Tai, and Summer for a while after that. I just needed to deal with some of my own issues for a while."

"And by for a while you mean almost nineteen years."

"I got caught up in tribe business. They needed someone to lead and my tribe first mentality was still very much intact after my years at Beacon."

"You could have written at least."

"I did. I wrote until Summer disappeared."

"Did her death mean anything to you? Because obviously not if you didn't even come back for that."

"Now's not the time for this. I promise I'll tell you later but now is not the time."

"Great. Already keeping stuff from me."

"Yang. Please. Just wait until this is over. And besides I think we're getting close to the bottom."

Raven was right and as everyone spread out at the bottom of the stairs gasps of wonder escaped almost everyone. The vault stood in the center of the room and was accessible by a broad bridge while a dark pit occupied the rest of the caverns space.

"Hey Rae, remember when Ozpin first brought us here on our tour of the academies to meet all the headmasters?"

"You almost fell off the platform."

"You tripped me."

"Children please now is not the time to bring up old grudges."

"And the creepy bastard returns. Nice new body Oz," Raven said looking at Oscar.

"Don't patronize me Raven, I didn't choose him."

"Whatever you say. Aren't Cinder and co supposed to be down here?"

"Right here Raven!"

Raven shot a panicked look in the direction of the central vault where Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Tyrian had come out of hiding.

"Isn't that the guy who attacked us on the way here?" Jaune asked Ruby who nodded at the sight of Tyrians wicked looking replacement tail.

"Qrow Branwen! You survived! What a shame, this will be harder than anticipated," Tyrian hissed.

"And how kind of you to deliver us the spring maiden Raven. I'm surprised that it's you of all people. Didn't peg you as one to kill defenseless children."

"What's she talking about?" Qrow asked his sister.

"I didn't kill her. She escaped from Leo when he found her and explained the situation. She didn't want the responsibility of being a maiden and begged for me to kill her. I couldn't do it. So she jumped off my ship. By the time I reached the ground she was already gone and the powers were already mine."

"A poor excuse. You're a murderer just like us Raven."

"We've all killed. It's an inevitable reality of this war," Ozpin said.

"And Ozpin! I didn't expect to hear you again so soon."

"It was a risk reincarnating so quickly, I can't just leave you to wreak havoc unopposed."

"Then we'll have to make sure you-" Cinder cut herself off as her eyes settled on Nadia, "Little sister. I told you it would be a mistake to stay behind. I might not be at the liberty to let you live this time. Our mistress would prefer it if none are left standing."

"The Mistress who's in control right now? You're volatile Cinder but it's been too short a time since you last lost control, there's no way she's released you already."

Cinder laughed quietly, "Clever one, isn't she? You're right, I am in control. She never told me her little sister was so perceptive. You can catch up with her once you're dead and just another thrall in dear Cinders mind."

"Not a chance you old hag, we're getting that relic and you can't do a damn about it. We outnumber you, we're stronger than you, and we've got a more experienced maiden."

"Very well, you will die ignorant at the hands of your own flesh and blood."

Tyrian was the first to attack as he lunged forward, his new tail glinting in the orange glow of the vault. Ruby jumped forward to meet him midair with Crescent Rose intercepting his tail and wrist mounted weapons. The rest of the hunters followed suit and intercepted their charging foes. Salem simply floated forward carried by her powers as she locked eyes with Raven in challenge.

"We'll take her together, alright?"

"Just like old times."

"Not quite," Winter said stepping forward as she readied a glyph.

Ravens eyes began to glow as her powers were released and she and Salem clashed midair. Ravens sword scraped against the jagged edge of Salems pair of conjured blades. Winter set up glyphs to restrict her movement and summoned nevermores and lancers to harass her. From below Qrow transformed and flew to just above and behind Salem before changing back and bringing Harbinger down onto her left arm that was unguarded by aura leaving a deep gouge in the unnatural flesh. Salem didn't even react to the wound but merely allowed the arm to act of its own volition. The limb thrashed in anger and lashed out at Qrow who had turned into a bird again. Barely avoiding the attack Qrow decided to get back to the ground and fend off the arm from there with Winters help.

On the other side of the battle Mercury and Emerald were keeping the others busy with illusions and surprise attacks.

"Neo, it's good to see you again shortstack, sucks that you're on their side though."

Neo shrugged in response as she deflected a kick from Mercury. Neo backstepped from an attack by Emerald using her semblance to distract her with a decoy that Alton jumped through delivering a flurry of blows.

"Thanks again for that knife," Emerald said lightheartedly to Nadia as the two traded blows after Mercury had stepped in against Alton.

"No problem, I've got plenty," Nadia grunted as Sanguis Fons struck Emerald in the chin.

As the mint haired illusionist stumbled away from the hit copies of herself appeared and surrounded Nadia.

"That's not gonna work" Nadia chided changing her weapon into its rocket pod form and fired a volley in a circle at the ring of Emeralds the final rocket actually impacting and throwing Emerald backwards as her aura absorbed the majority of the impact.

"Heads up!" Yang shouted as she launched herself through the fray and over Carla who had joined Alton in fighting off Mercury.

The sound of crunching metal was followed by Mercury screaming in pain. Yang had smashed both of Mercury's cybernetic feet leaving him on the ground completely incapacitated.

"That's for last time. Now your legs are broken for real."

"Thanks blondie, really appreciate it," Mercury hissed through gritted teeth as he clutched at his damaged limbs.

Ruby and Tyrian's fight had moved closer to the vault as Ruby had pressed her advantage of reach under Tiphany's cover. Tyrian's aura had already begun to flicker as he struggle more now to dodge and block Ruby's attacks.

"Quite formidable now aren't we?" Tyrian chuckled as he tried to mask his nervousness.

Ruby said nothing and continued her assault. Using her semblance to duck around and through Tyrian's new metal stinger and his wide sweeping slashes Ruby unloaded the last three shots in Crescent Rose into Tyrian's blind spots leaving his aura spent and a gushing bullet wound in his left side. Ruby pushed forward again causing Tyrian to stumble backwards in his already wounded state and slip over the lip of the bridge and barely cling to the edge with his right hand.

"Give up," Ruby said leveling the barrel of Crescent Rose at his face.

"An eye for an eye!" Tyrian almost pleaded.

"Leaves the whole world blind," Ruby muttered under breath as she pulled the trigger.

Tyrian had attempted to lunge up at Ruby but the bullet stopped his momentum and he plummeted to the bottom of the cavern and was dead before he had even hit the ground. Ruby felt something warm on her face and realized her own aura was down and he had barely scratched her before falling. The cut ran from her left cheek bone down to her chin and was bleeding lightly.

"I'll deal with it later," Ruby shrugged it off and used her semblance to get back to the main fighting.

Emerald was on the extreme defensive now, using her semblance as best she could to divert the eight hunters plus Neo she was fighting while dragging Mercury away. The group had created a line across the bridge ahead of where they'd last seen their foe to ensure she didn't slip past them. Ruby returned to her normal physical state right in front of where Emerald was hiding in plain sight. Emerald took her chance and grabbed Ruby from behind and with her unoccupied hand put her blade to her throat.

"You take another step I slit her throat. Just let us go and we'll leave you alone," Emerald tried to be intimidating but the shaking of her voice betrayed her.

"You know we can't let you just leave. You're wanted terrorists and murderers," Nadia said.

"We never wanted to kill anybody, we just wanted to live our lives."

"You don't have to do this. You don't have to follow Salem or Cinder. You can be good people," Ruby said causing Emerald to press the blades edge closer to skin.

"Em," Mercury pulled at her sleeve weakly, "Just let her go."

"You know I can't do that Merc."

"Please. She reminds me of my sister."

"Merc," Emerald said tentatively her hand beginning to tremble.

"Just do it. Cinder would rather us be in custody than dead."

Emerald sighed and released her hold on her weapon and sank to the ground beside her partner.

"Yeah, she would. For Cinder."

"Come on you two, Emerald help him. We've got a nice cell waiting on our new ship for you as soon as it gets here."

"Ah that new ship smell, don't you love it Merc?" Emerald said to Mercury who she was now carrying bridal style while Alton held her weapons.

"Ruby! What happened to your face?" Weiss said as she realized the entire left side of her partners face was coated in blood.

"Just a close call. Tyrian is, yeah Tyrian is dead. I shot him. Just like that."

"Just make sure you get that looked at once we're out of here, I don't want you getting an infection."

"Holy shit. Yang your mom is kicking some ass," Carla whistled.

Raven had just kicked Cinder into the stone wall with the force of a large truck while Winter and Qrow had taken a backseat and simply stood at the edge of the bridge watching the duel. Cinder hurled balls of fire at Raven who dodged and deflected them with her sword before flying forwards and bicycle kicking Cinder back onto the bridge before hurling a massive ice spike her way pinning her to the stone and destroying her aura at the same time.

"You ready to give up Salem?" Raven asked as she set herself down on the bridge.

"She's gone," Cinder sighed in exhaustion, "Probably gone for a while. Thanks for that," Cinder suddenly screamed in pain as the glow of her eyes extinguished suddenly and were replaced by a dim silver glow.

"Rae. Rae is that you?" Cinders voice had changed to a more caring tone.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked.

"Don't even recognize your own girlfriend when she's inhabiting the body of her murderer, some lover you are."

"Summer?"

"Look at the eyes, I don't have much time," Summer said as she broke Cinders right arm free and held it out towards Raven who took it.

"What's going on?"

"There's someone else in here who'd like to talk to someone before Cinder manages to get control back but I just wanted to say that I don't blame you. You were too late to save me. And it wasn't your fault. I still love you. I still love Tai. And I still love our little girls," Summer twisted Cinders head sideways as far as she could in the ice, "And there they are. Yang honey, Ruby dear over here!"

"Mom?" Ruby asked tentatively recognizing the voice she only barely recalled.

"Oh my little rosebud, you've grown so much. I'm so proud of you. And Yang, our sunny little dragon. You're so big and strong, I couldn't be prouder of the two of you. Mommy loves you both but I have to hand control over to somebody else you might recognize."

"Summer wait!" Raven protested as the silver faded and Cinders eyes closed, "I'm so sorry," Raven sobbed.

"Hello again!"

"What?" Ruby asked in surprise.

Bright green eyes now looked around from Cinders scarred face.

"It's Pyrrha, don't tell me you've forgotten already?"

"No, we haven't forgotten at all, we couldn't."

"Thank goodness, is Jaune here? Or Ren and Nora? There's something I'd like to tell them."

"Jaune is here, Ren and Nora are outside," Ruby said tearing up slightly.

"Could you get him for me?"

"Yeah. I can. JAUNE!"

"What?" Jaune called back from where he was helping get Mercury up the stairs.

"Get over here!"

Jaune ran over completely confused.

"What's going on?"

"Hello again Jaune," Pyrrha said.

"Wha- Pyrrha?" Jaune said immediately recognizing his former partners voice.

"Yes. It's me. I needed to talk to you before Cinder manages to regain control."

"What do you mean, why are you in Cinders body?"

"Your friend Nadia can explain it but right now I just really need to say something."

"O-okay," Jaune agreed almost sobbing outright.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you like that to fight Cinder, and I'm sorry for dying, and I'm sorry for not saying anything about liking you sooner. You're a good person Jaune, and an even better leader. I love you."

"No it's not your fault, you did what you could to stop her and it just wasn't possible. You still bought us all precious time and saved hundreds of people."

"Did I? That's good. I have to go now Jaune. Take care of Ren and Nora for me."

"Bye. Bye Pyrrha. I love you too," Jaune finally let the sob he'd been holding in out as the green faded from Cinders eyes and was replaced by orange once again before her eyes closed.

The sound of ice shattering roused Jaune from his sorrow to see that the ice holding Cinder had melted and been shattered as long tendril like arms made of Grimm matter ascended from the pit below them and dragged Cinders unconscious form back down with them.

"Cinder!" Emerald cried from the staircase as she saw the fall maiden get taken.

"Salem got her," Qrow growled, "What were you all blubbering about over here?"

"Did you know?"

"Did I know what?" Qrow answered his sisters question with another.

"That Summer is stuck in Cinders head? Because I sure fucking didn't and this would've been useful to know at some point!"

"Pyrrha too. Probably plenty of other people."

"Yep. That's her semblance. She absorbs the aura, soul, and body of those she kills to make herself stronger," Nadia said stepping forward.

"This is what you meant just before the attack started, isn't it?" Jaune asked her.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't say something sooner, I didn't know for sure."

"It's fine, at least I got to talk to her again."

"If anything that's good because the longer they go without being reminded of their life or having control they fade. The same happened to the rest of our tribes, our parents and everybody else. For your mom to have lasted this long is incredible," Nadia said looking at Ruby.

"Is there any way to get them out? Like if she absorbed their body and their soul then couldn't there be a way of bringing them back?" Yang asked.

"I really don't know, even she doesn't know exactly how her semblance works, I'd expect for everything she's built up to be released she'd have to die. Either that or we'd have to pull the plug that's keeping everything including Salem inside. That arm needs to come off."

"And I was so close a couple minutes ago," Qrow said.

"We still need to get the relic. It's not safe here anymore. Leave it with me. I need to go see someone and then I'm coming back," Raven said stepping towards the vault.

"I'll allow it, but if you don't come back we will track you down," Ozpin said.

"Yeah I know Oz, just get off my back would ya? There and back."

Raven opened the vault and stepped through the shimmering entrance and into the strange liminal space the relic resided in. Taking hold of the lamp Raven walked back out.

"You two want to come?" Raven asked Ruby and Yang.

"Where are we going?" Yang asked her mother.

"Home."

Raven opened a portal and stepped through beckoning the two girls as she went. Yang and Ruby hurries after her and emerged onto the dew coated lawn of their own home.

"I wonder if he's awake?" Raven mused.

"Signal is still in session and he's got to be there by seven and it's five right now so probably," Yang said.

Ruby ran up and knocked on the door as Raven and Yang approached.

"Yeah?" Tai muttered groggily as he opened the door.

"Dad!" Ruby shouted as she tackled him in a flurry of petals.

"What? Where did you come from?"

"Same place I did," Raven answered for her.

"Raven. What are you doing here?"

"She's alive Tai."

"Who?"

"Summer. Summer's alive."

"How, you said you saw her die in your last letter."

"She didn't die, she's just trapped. And we're going to get her back. Somehow."

"And you've finally gotten over your aversion to our daughter?"

"For the most part. She's growing on me," Raven said as she attempted to ruffle her daughters hair.

Tai sighed in relief, "And what about you Yang, not holding too much against her?"

"Oh there's still a lot to talk about. But maybe I could see myself forgiving her."

"Thank you," Raven said suddenly hugging Yang.

"Mom, just don't. Not yet at least."

"Sorry."

"Well come on in and rest a moment."

"Just get us some coffee, we've been fighting for the past ten hours," Raven casually said.

"What?"

"Yeah, Mistral got attacked, like Vale. But we handled it for the most part. Leo died but we captured a couple bad guys," Ruby explained, "I've got a new scar," Ruby traced the finally healing wound along her cheek.

"Well come on in, I've got some aura stimulants for you too if you'd like."

"Thanks Tai. Thanks for waiting for me."

"Maybe now we can actually be a family."

"Like we haven't been? A very spread out and dysfunctional one but a family still."

"Debatable," Tai said leading them into the kitchen.

"Very debatable," Yang added.

The four quickly shared some coffee mixed with the stimulants before saying their goodbyes to Tai, Raven hugging him tightly for a moment before passing back through a portal to Qrow.

"Visiting Tai?" Qrow asked as they appeared.

"Yeah. Just giving him the news."

"Don't break the poor guy, he's been through some shit."

"We all have."

"And we've got plenty more to trudge through before this is over, first we'll need to get Mistral back under control," Yang said looking around at the semi order that had retaken Haven but chaos still seemed to envelop the city itself.

"Won't be too hard with the Tiefer Schnitt here," Winter said gazing at the newly christened warship that had just arrived over the horizon.

Staring in awe as the massive airship that was almost twice the size of the Tödlich Flüstern made good time towards the city and within the minute had gone from a vague shape on the horizon to dominating Mistrals airspace. Freshly outfitted with heavy shielding the smaller vessel didn't have airborne Grimm attempted to attack the state of the art warship but were obliterated by the concentrated energy field or the plethora of anti air guns that spat tracers that lit up the early dawn sky.

"Captain Winter! She was shipped out with the most minimal crew possible, made it here on autopilot. Permission to take the helm once aboard?" Matte asked excitedly from the captain's side where she'd taken up position after being dismissed from repair duties where she'd excelled and finished the task quickly.

"I've seen your flight test scores, permission granted."

"Thank you!" Matte ran to the next bullhead on its way up to deliver supplies from the ship to the ground.

"Hmm, I've been looking at this ship for a while and I'm not really seeing a reason for the chunk missing from the bow."

"Prong mounted hangars, experimental layout for maximum space efficiency of vehicle storage while still remaining sheltered from direct assault," Nadia explained as she inspected the ship with her superior vision.

"Interesting, I wasn't aware this was a carrier."

"It's not. It's a hybrid strike cruiser designed for maximum effectiveness in all areas including troop and vehicle transport, ground support, air combat, and assault roles. Ground support and assault are covered by those theee rings around the center."

"I've never seen a superstructure like that before, what is it?"

"Hold on, there's a large horde of Grimm approaching from the north I think they'll use it on," as soon as the words had left Nadia's fanged mouth the three tiered rings began to spin and large deck guns resembling the standard ones carried on most warships emerged from the armor and spun with the rings.

After the rings reached optimal speed which was made evident by a low hum filling the air the guns attached to them let loose in a cacophony of noise. Shells flew in an odd pattern almost resembling a slightly offset spiral before pounding the many acres the approaching Grimm had stood on moments before, and afterwards nothing but dust and dirt remained in a mile radius.

"That does seem to fit those roles."

"Taking covering fire to a whole nother level. Just cover everything in fire," Carla chuckled.

"That's what they did to us," Alton said shrugging.

"Back to clearing Grimm, and there's still a lot of Grimm," Weiss groaned.

"Why don't you all take a break for now, the situation is mostly handled, civilians are out of the way and reinforcements have arrived, just head up to the ship and rest in the hunter suites," Winter suggested.

"I'm fine with that," Tiphany said as she yawned.

"And I need to shower, I've got a lot of blood on my feet."

"We could all use a break," Ruby said.

"And we could probably use locking up, you got distracted," Emerald said peeking out from behind Yang.

"And I could use some repairs, you can't expect to just leave me crippled," Mercury grumbled from the ground.

"A couple months and you get used to it."

"Hey I lost my legs before you were even a huntress!"

"What happened, did Cinder take them to get you to work for her?"

"No. They were smashed when my dad set fire to our house and left my little sister to die while I finally gave him a piece of my mind and a taste of my knuckles. I went back in after he was dead but I knew she was already gone."

"And you don't say shit about Cinder, she's dealing with more than you ever could."

"Really? Who knew being a heartless murderer would actually effect somebody?" Yang deadpanned.

"She doesn't want any of this, she realized the mistake of trusting Salem years ago. But it's not like she could even leave, Salem has her in the palm of her hand and it hurts her to no end."

"She murdered our family," Nadia said.

"She was forced. Do you really think she was in control when she killed your parents? When she killed his parents who had treated her as one of their own?" Emerald gestured at Alton with her shackled hands.

"Shut. The fuck. Up," Alton spat, "You have no right to say a single fucking thing about stuff you don't know. Yeah, she killed my parents, but did you see her do it? No. We did. We were there. There wasn't a single bit of remorse in her eyes when she shoved that piece of metal right through my mom and left her to burn even after she had approached her unarmed. She showed no emotion when she snapped my dad's neck like it was nothing. So don't you say a damn word about whether or not she felt that. Because she didn't."

"She's not a monster. She's like a dog on a chain. Get rid of the master and all hostility disappears."

"She'll be gone before Salem."

Emerald made to speak again but was interrupted by Neo putting the tip of her parasol to her lips.

 _"She's the reason Roman's dead, so I'm the reason she's going to be dead."_

"Just get them to the ship. And you," Winter said turning to Qrow, "Don't die down here, we've almost gotten through the worst of it."

"Really? You're not even going to say it now?"

Winter turned away from him.

"Guess now's a good time to say it. I'm dating your sister!" Qrow said to Weiss.

"Seriously? Winter this better be a joke."

"It's no joke. Qrow Branwen, as annoying as he may be, is my boyfriend."

"And she still won't say it," Qrow pouted.

"I'm not saying the damned words you stupid bird!"

"Ah whatever, she'll say it eventually."

"Wait, if Qrow ends up marrying Winter, what would that make us?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"Considering we're not related by blood or law, absolutely nothing," Qrow answered for the heiress.

Alton chuckled as he walked away from the two very similar pairs with his team and handed Mercury and Emerald over to some atlesian soldiers ready to escort them to the Tiefer Schnitt.

"We're headed to our new home. Come on guys, I'd like to get a nap in before ten."

"Highly unlikely," Tiphany jabbed.

"Not if I knock him out," Nadia said.

"Did you just threaten your own boyfriend?"

"Yes, he's my boyfriend I can do what I want."

"She's got that right," Alton agreed.

"Whatever."

* * *

Cinder had finally regained consciousness and found herself on the shore of a small Grimm spawning pool at the bottom of the vault pit. Clutching at her wounded left arm in pain she let out a gasp of shock as she found that the Grimm substance that made up the limb now covered her entire shoulder and part of her back and side. Cinder scratched at the melded flesh in a vain attempt to remove it before giving up and pushed herself to her feet in an effort to make true on her promise to Emerald.

 **Authors notes:**

Fuck where to begin.

I shared part of that little Bee talk in a couple discord servers so some people might have been expecting it. I'm really proud of that actually.

Yeah that was Carla's semblance, it allows her to influence people's emotions on a large scale though it's incredibly unreliable and innacurate.

Here's Adam!

There goes Adam!

I went through probably three different drafts of that fight and Yang and Blake's talks about it right after but I feel like this is the best one.

Winter Schnee is a human person with emotions, who woulda thought?

Meeting the in-laws part one.

I decided to keep Ren and Nora out of that just to keep the fight somewhat even but it was kind of decided to be heavily towards the good guys from the start. Because plot. And I'm an incompetent writer.

Oooh feels.

Yeah Summer, Raven, and Tai were poly before Raven left and Summer died.

I hope that didn't feel forced with Summer and Pyrrha, I tried my best.

Rip Cinder.

Not really, she's still too important to die like that.

Hasty portal, hasty apology, and coffee.

New ship! A lot better than the old ship. I based the ring cannons off of the ship in Harlock Space Pirate (good movie)

Yep, Snowbirds is official. Up to this point they've kinda been off and on but now that they've been within a few miles of each other for a couple months they've managed to steady out.

Yep there she is. Alive and still regretting joining Salem.

Thanks to Patasaurus, Tensazangitsu, abbydobbie, and darksilver reaper for favoriting!

Please leave a review if you liked the chapter, it's always nice to hear feedback from readers.

Also I'll be taking a break from this and my other fic for a while to write some shorter fics, most of them one shots and smut.


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